The last time I went to India was right before I joined graduate school – the summer of 2001. Since then a lot of things have happened – but the biggest one for my relatives back home is that Gregg and I got married. We have been married for 2 years now and have never made the trip. Therefore, we have been getting a lot of pressure to visit. Now, we moved to Farmville, VA in 2007 (shortly after the wedding) and to Lancaster, PA in 2008. So, we have not had either the money or the time to plan for and take a trip to India. However, this year seemed the right time to take the trip. We renewed the lease on our current apartment till July 2009, so we are not moving anywhere soon. I am continuing at Millersville University next year. I have my green card so coming back into the country should not be an issue. However, there was one problem – the economy. The economy has been so bad that we did not want to spend the $3500-$4000 it takes for 2 round trip tickets. However, turns out that it is precisely the economy that changed our minds.
A couple of months ago we started searching for cheap tickets to India. It turned out that people are not travelling anymore and therefore, travel is much cheaper than we thought. We ended up buying two tickets for under $2400 – saving at least $1100 on the transaction. How could we pass this up?
The other question was: when should we go? Gregg wanted to go during the summer since we would be able to spend more time there. But my parents were adamant: it will be too hot; you have to come during the winter. Besides, as mentioned earlier, I have to finish and defend my dissertation by the end of September. Taking 3-4 weeks off in the middle of summer seemed unfeasible. So, we finally decided to go during the Christmas vacation. We will be leaving on December 24th and will reach Calcutta on Christmas night (their time – here, it will be Christmas morning). Tickets were cheapest at this time though Gregg thinks it will be weird to be on a flight on Christmas Day. We will be returning on January 14th. While there, Gregg will not only get to see Calcutta and meet all my relatives (JOY!!!!) but we will also be travelling to see the Taj Mahal as well as Delhi and Jaipur. Just for the record, I have never seen the Taj Mahal either.
Gregg has been more excited about this trip than I have. He is trying to learn Bengali and reading up on things to do in and around Calcutta and in and around Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. This is my first international trip with Gregg and my first trip back home in a long while, so I am excited too.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
End of the Semester Assessment
I turned in final grades on Wednesday, officially bringing my first t-t semester to a close. It is the best feeling in the world!!! With 120 students, the grading was brutal all semester and the sudden addition of committees, advising and prepping 4 classes had me on my toes since August. Going to APSA and Northeastern did not help because I had to prepare two (very sub-par) papers. So, I am planning to take a much needed break.
Unfortunately, the break will not be total. First, I need to prepare a syllabus for Contemporary Political Thought – a class I am teaching for the first time in the spring. I will also make some changes in my Intro to Political Theory and Intro to American Govt. courses.
Second, I have to work on a reflective statement for my application for re-appointment. Millersville has a strange system where each t-t faculty has to apply for re-appointment each year. Though the outcome is never really in doubt, it requires a ton of paperwork including an assessment of what the faculty member has done throughout their year towards course development, students evals, scholarship and service. It also requires peer evaluations which means THREE IN-CLASS evaluations per semester of your teaching. While this is great when you go up for tenure (having conducted such stringent evaluations five times, they are hardly likely to throw you out then), it is a really time-consuming process each year.
Third, of course, I still need to work on the big D(issertation). I am hoping to get a draft of the whole thing to my committee by the end of the spring semester.
Last, I need to clean my office and our house. The office is a mess with papers, exams, quizzes and even unanswered mail everywhere. The house is worse and needs a good cleaning on top of that.
________________________
In Other News:
Car: Finally, we got a new car (that is a story in itself which I will recount later). It is a red 2007 Toyota Camry. As a preview to the story, let me just say that Gregg and I were on completely different sides of this purchase. Gregg thought we should buy an American car and be supportive of the American auto industry. I fought for the Toyota – putting so much money into the purchase, I did not feel comfortable buying American especially with the bailout still on the line.
Cheating: I have two sets of students who have clearly plagiarized some parts of their papers from each other. In the first set, the two students use different language but every paragraph is the same for both – including the mistakes. Some of the language is the same but not a lot. I am more charitably disposed to this pair. But the second pair have submitted papers which are word-for-word the same as each other for the first 3 pages. How lazy – and stupid – can you be?
Conferences: In the interests of both money and due to sheer exhaustion, I have withdrawn from both the Southern and Western conferences. I got accepted to both but Southern is in New Orleans and Western in Vancouver and I am too tired to write 2 more papers and travel that far. Maybe this was a stupid decision – after all, t-t faculty have to do as much professional stuff as possible – but I have already done 2 conferences this year and I thought 4 is too much.
Celebratory Menu: To celebrate my first real day off, I am making a Middle-Eastern-Indian inspired mutton stew with a Mediterranean couscous.
Unfortunately, the break will not be total. First, I need to prepare a syllabus for Contemporary Political Thought – a class I am teaching for the first time in the spring. I will also make some changes in my Intro to Political Theory and Intro to American Govt. courses.
Second, I have to work on a reflective statement for my application for re-appointment. Millersville has a strange system where each t-t faculty has to apply for re-appointment each year. Though the outcome is never really in doubt, it requires a ton of paperwork including an assessment of what the faculty member has done throughout their year towards course development, students evals, scholarship and service. It also requires peer evaluations which means THREE IN-CLASS evaluations per semester of your teaching. While this is great when you go up for tenure (having conducted such stringent evaluations five times, they are hardly likely to throw you out then), it is a really time-consuming process each year.
Third, of course, I still need to work on the big D(issertation). I am hoping to get a draft of the whole thing to my committee by the end of the spring semester.
Last, I need to clean my office and our house. The office is a mess with papers, exams, quizzes and even unanswered mail everywhere. The house is worse and needs a good cleaning on top of that.
________________________
In Other News:
Car: Finally, we got a new car (that is a story in itself which I will recount later). It is a red 2007 Toyota Camry. As a preview to the story, let me just say that Gregg and I were on completely different sides of this purchase. Gregg thought we should buy an American car and be supportive of the American auto industry. I fought for the Toyota – putting so much money into the purchase, I did not feel comfortable buying American especially with the bailout still on the line.
Cheating: I have two sets of students who have clearly plagiarized some parts of their papers from each other. In the first set, the two students use different language but every paragraph is the same for both – including the mistakes. Some of the language is the same but not a lot. I am more charitably disposed to this pair. But the second pair have submitted papers which are word-for-word the same as each other for the first 3 pages. How lazy – and stupid – can you be?
Conferences: In the interests of both money and due to sheer exhaustion, I have withdrawn from both the Southern and Western conferences. I got accepted to both but Southern is in New Orleans and Western in Vancouver and I am too tired to write 2 more papers and travel that far. Maybe this was a stupid decision – after all, t-t faculty have to do as much professional stuff as possible – but I have already done 2 conferences this year and I thought 4 is too much.
Celebratory Menu: To celebrate my first real day off, I am making a Middle-Eastern-Indian inspired mutton stew with a Mediterranean couscous.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Caving in – and joining Facebook
After my rants against Facebook, I have finally thrown in the towel and signed up for it. I talked to Stacie about it and was surprised when she said she had joined it. Stacie also enumerated the positives: you can contact all the people you have lost touch with, you tend to talk to people more than you otherwise would and just reading their pages keeps you in touch with others. This got me thinking about it more than usual. Then, she sent me an email today with the message that I should join Facebook to keep an eye on Gregg – his marital status does not say “Married”!!!! Well, since Gregg does not even add his own friends (I do it for him), I was not worried but I finally decided to jump into the fray. So at 7am this morning, I joined.
However, I have checked it incessantly since then. I have spent 4 hours on Facebook today – I did not even bother to prep for my Intro to AP class. So, anyone who is like me (with an easily addicted personality) – BEWARE!!!! It is addictive. On the other hand, I enjoyed myself. I have reconnected with at least 4 friends who I have not talked to in years. It is so nice to hear their news. Plus, I have exchanged emails with tons of others – very funny emails at that!!!
So, what does this say about me? First, I clearly lack will-power. In spite of having tons of good reasons for not joining, I joined regardless. Second, I am never on the cutting edge of technology. I shy away from it until it becomes a phenomenon and then give in to it. I came into blogging late and to Facebook late for that reason. Third, as I said before, I get easily addicted. Lastly, I am a joiner, a member of the masses, a person with a mob mentality. I am a follower. If others do it, I tend to join in.
Wow!!! Joining Facebook clearly shows off some of my worst qualities.
___________________________
In Other News:
Fall Break: This is fall break which means I have Monday and Tuesday off. Though it will be very busy (I have to grade 80 exams, prep for next week and work on my tragedy chapter) at least I can work from home.
Midterm Evals: I did midterm evals in my classes and got solid 8s and 9s (out of 10 points) for all my classes. My Introduction to Political Theory class was the worst – have to work harder to make that entertaining. Problem is, I think it is entertaining and thought-provoking – my students do not.
However, I have checked it incessantly since then. I have spent 4 hours on Facebook today – I did not even bother to prep for my Intro to AP class. So, anyone who is like me (with an easily addicted personality) – BEWARE!!!! It is addictive. On the other hand, I enjoyed myself. I have reconnected with at least 4 friends who I have not talked to in years. It is so nice to hear their news. Plus, I have exchanged emails with tons of others – very funny emails at that!!!
So, what does this say about me? First, I clearly lack will-power. In spite of having tons of good reasons for not joining, I joined regardless. Second, I am never on the cutting edge of technology. I shy away from it until it becomes a phenomenon and then give in to it. I came into blogging late and to Facebook late for that reason. Third, as I said before, I get easily addicted. Lastly, I am a joiner, a member of the masses, a person with a mob mentality. I am a follower. If others do it, I tend to join in.
Wow!!! Joining Facebook clearly shows off some of my worst qualities.
___________________________
In Other News:
Fall Break: This is fall break which means I have Monday and Tuesday off. Though it will be very busy (I have to grade 80 exams, prep for next week and work on my tragedy chapter) at least I can work from home.
Midterm Evals: I did midterm evals in my classes and got solid 8s and 9s (out of 10 points) for all my classes. My Introduction to Political Theory class was the worst – have to work harder to make that entertaining. Problem is, I think it is entertaining and thought-provoking – my students do not.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Exploring Pennsylvania
Since Gregg and I started our first full-time jobs together, we have had to make spending time together a priority. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Gregg is on the train or in Philly from 7am to 6pm (till 10pm on Mondays). Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am on campus from 12pm-6pm. While I know this is common for most couples, it is uncommon for us and we have been trying to compensate.
Our other priority since we moved to PA has been to explore Lancaster and its surroundings. So far, we have mainly explored restaurants. Once we ventured to Harrisburg but that’s about it. So Gregg decided to combine our goals into a new rule: Saturdays are days we spend together doing something new and not working (at least till the evening).
In that spirit, we got up this morning and drove to Gifford Pinchot State Park. It is about 45 minutes from our house. It is on a lake and has trails and camp-grounds. We took Giggs with us. Once at the park, we spend about 90 minutes walking the “Lakeside Trail” with Giggs and then headed out. I do not usually like hiking but this was a swift easy walk around the park. It is located outside a very small cute town and we went to what was advertised as a Farmers’ Flea Market. True to its name, it turned out to be part farmers’ market and part flea market. We walked around there for a while where Giggs got a lot of attention. By this time, we were very tired, very hot and hungry. So, we got Giggs some water and snacks and then stopped at the Hillside Café for lunch. The place looked like just some diner from the outside but turned out to be quite nice and swanky inside – in spite of its name and location. Anything but a café. The food was very good – I had their BBQ ribs and Gregg had a fish platter. Huge portion sizes too. I highly recommend it.
On the whole, a wonderful day!! What made it better was that it was a cheap way to explore. The state park was free; we only paid for lunch and gas. We did not buy anything at the farmers’ market. Overall, I spent a wonderful day with Gregg and Giggs, did not spend much money, got some exercise and discovered a very beautiful hilly part of PA. What more could one ask for?
Our other priority since we moved to PA has been to explore Lancaster and its surroundings. So far, we have mainly explored restaurants. Once we ventured to Harrisburg but that’s about it. So Gregg decided to combine our goals into a new rule: Saturdays are days we spend together doing something new and not working (at least till the evening).
In that spirit, we got up this morning and drove to Gifford Pinchot State Park. It is about 45 minutes from our house. It is on a lake and has trails and camp-grounds. We took Giggs with us. Once at the park, we spend about 90 minutes walking the “Lakeside Trail” with Giggs and then headed out. I do not usually like hiking but this was a swift easy walk around the park. It is located outside a very small cute town and we went to what was advertised as a Farmers’ Flea Market. True to its name, it turned out to be part farmers’ market and part flea market. We walked around there for a while where Giggs got a lot of attention. By this time, we were very tired, very hot and hungry. So, we got Giggs some water and snacks and then stopped at the Hillside Café for lunch. The place looked like just some diner from the outside but turned out to be quite nice and swanky inside – in spite of its name and location. Anything but a café. The food was very good – I had their BBQ ribs and Gregg had a fish platter. Huge portion sizes too. I highly recommend it.
On the whole, a wonderful day!! What made it better was that it was a cheap way to explore. The state park was free; we only paid for lunch and gas. We did not buy anything at the farmers’ market. Overall, I spent a wonderful day with Gregg and Giggs, did not spend much money, got some exercise and discovered a very beautiful hilly part of PA. What more could one ask for?
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The End of Summer
First, let me apologize to Jill for blatantly plagiarizing her blog entry. For those of you who would rather go to the original source, click here. Second, in my defense, Jill also asks her readers what they have to do before school starts – so I am only giving her a detailed answer!!! However, unlike Jill, I have two lists here. The first one is my list of things to do before school starts next week and the second one is a list of things to do this school year.
This summer has been one of the most hectic ones we have had. Moving to PA took a lot out of us, especially because Gregg and I packed, loaded, unloaded and unpacked all by ourselves. Plus, getting used to a new place always takes time. Emotionally, the job search for Gregg was draining – the euphoria of West Point, the discussions on living apart, the joy of Temple etc. But we have since settled down wonderfully – and thank you to everyone who visited. Living in a new place does get lonely and I am so happy that so many people made the time to come and see us in PA.
Starting Monday, for the first time in my life, I have to go to work every day – just like everybody else. So, I have to be ready for it. This is my To Do list for this week – my last week off from work.
1. Prepare my Intro to American Govt. syllabus (the American Political Thought and Intro to PT syllabi are already done).
2. Make copies of all my syllabi for all 4 classes
3. Write lectures for next week’s classes on APT, Intro to PT and Intro to AP
4. Move more of my books into my office
5. Set up the voicemail and computer in my office
6. Scan and upload the syllabi and readings for next week onto Blackboard
7. Complete the paperwork for benefits
To-Do List for this school year:
1. Attend and present papers at least 3 conferences (Since I am already going to APSA and Northeastern, I think I will try one more)
2. Have the entire draft of my dissertation written
3. Have a written record of all my lectures for the 4 preps I have this year
4. Exercise at least 3-4 times per week
5. Get to know one person in Lancaster well (I have to learn to make friends where I live)
I always make resolutions made for the new school year. The question is: will I carry them out? I have always been terrible about implementing New Year resolutions - will school year resolutions be any different?
This summer has been one of the most hectic ones we have had. Moving to PA took a lot out of us, especially because Gregg and I packed, loaded, unloaded and unpacked all by ourselves. Plus, getting used to a new place always takes time. Emotionally, the job search for Gregg was draining – the euphoria of West Point, the discussions on living apart, the joy of Temple etc. But we have since settled down wonderfully – and thank you to everyone who visited. Living in a new place does get lonely and I am so happy that so many people made the time to come and see us in PA.
Starting Monday, for the first time in my life, I have to go to work every day – just like everybody else. So, I have to be ready for it. This is my To Do list for this week – my last week off from work.
1. Prepare my Intro to American Govt. syllabus (the American Political Thought and Intro to PT syllabi are already done).
2. Make copies of all my syllabi for all 4 classes
3. Write lectures for next week’s classes on APT, Intro to PT and Intro to AP
4. Move more of my books into my office
5. Set up the voicemail and computer in my office
6. Scan and upload the syllabi and readings for next week onto Blackboard
7. Complete the paperwork for benefits
To-Do List for this school year:
1. Attend and present papers at least 3 conferences (Since I am already going to APSA and Northeastern, I think I will try one more)
2. Have the entire draft of my dissertation written
3. Have a written record of all my lectures for the 4 preps I have this year
4. Exercise at least 3-4 times per week
5. Get to know one person in Lancaster well (I have to learn to make friends where I live)
I always make resolutions made for the new school year. The question is: will I carry them out? I have always been terrible about implementing New Year resolutions - will school year resolutions be any different?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
How Time Flies
As I looked at my Palm Pilot today to see what deadlines I have to reach in the next few weeks, I got a rude awakening. How fast time goes by!! Here are some of the things that surprised me:
1) We have already spent 3 months in Lancaster. It feels like we just moved in.
2) Summer is almost over though it feels like it just started.
3) My sister has been married for 6 months already.
4) We have had Giggs for over 2 months.
Is it just me? Have I not been savoring the days? Or has summer – and time – really flown by?
___________________________________________________
What we have been doing:
Family: My sister and Kenn came to visit this past weekend. We had a great time. I had tea with her, did a tour of Amish country, went to the outlet malls and showed her Millersville campus.
Work: Trying to get set up to start my first tenure-track job. Got passwords for email, Blackboard, the system which allows me to record grades; got keys for offices, classrooms etc; did IT training; ordered stationary; moved some books into the office; got ID; filled up some forms etc.
Writing: I have been trying to write my paper for APSA (also a diss chapter). Have not gotten far – maybe 5-7 pages into it.
Giggs: He has been doing well. We had our first chewing disaster. The victim was Gregg’s cell phone charger which got chewed into little bits.
1) We have already spent 3 months in Lancaster. It feels like we just moved in.
2) Summer is almost over though it feels like it just started.
3) My sister has been married for 6 months already.
4) We have had Giggs for over 2 months.
Is it just me? Have I not been savoring the days? Or has summer – and time – really flown by?
___________________________________________________
What we have been doing:
Family: My sister and Kenn came to visit this past weekend. We had a great time. I had tea with her, did a tour of Amish country, went to the outlet malls and showed her Millersville campus.
Work: Trying to get set up to start my first tenure-track job. Got passwords for email, Blackboard, the system which allows me to record grades; got keys for offices, classrooms etc; did IT training; ordered stationary; moved some books into the office; got ID; filled up some forms etc.
Writing: I have been trying to write my paper for APSA (also a diss chapter). Have not gotten far – maybe 5-7 pages into it.
Giggs: He has been doing well. We had our first chewing disaster. The victim was Gregg’s cell phone charger which got chewed into little bits.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Fourth of July Weekend
Happy Fourth of July Weekend everyone!!! Gregg and I decided to spend the weekend being productive – in a wholistic way. On Friday, we got to hang out with Stacie, Evan and Sam. They were in Philly for the weekend and drove to Lancaster. It was Giggs’ first doggie play-date and given his hostile response to other dogs, I was not optimistic. But Stacie was very patient and came armed with a million treats and bones and toys. By the way, Stacie, Giggs has not let his rawhide bone go for the past 24 hours. Thanks for that!!
When Sam first walked in the door, Giggs started barking and this did not stop for the first 15 minutes. After that, he decided that he would walk over to Stacie who was sitting with Sam and accept some delicious salmon treats from her. It took 30-45 minutes of bribing Giggs with treats and threatening to spray him with water if he barked, for him to calm down enough to let him off his leash. After that, Giggs seemed to perk up, stopped barking and ran around the house checking to see where Sam was. However, the play-date was a little disappointing for Sam because Giggs refused to play with him. Poor Sam, he tried so hard. He sniffed Giggs (in some unmentionable places!!), he lay down, he rolled over – he tried to be as unthreatening as possible. Just for the record, Sam is 45 pounds to Giggs’ 7, so rough play might rightly have scared Giggs. A wagging tail from Sam is enough to knock Giggs over. However, Giggs did play when we took them outside – probably the space to run made him feel safer.
After a couple of hours when we were sure things were calm, we left the dogs at home (we separated them) and went out to get lunch. We went to the Iron Hill Brewery – it is a chain but limited to the PA, NJ, Delaware area. They brew a lot of their own beers. It was very nice catching up, I had not seen Stacie for almost a year – since APSA last year. Unfortunately, Stacie, Evan and Sam had to leave shortly after lunch but it was a great day for me nonetheless.
On Saturday, Gregg and I worked on our dissertations. I have to write a chapter on tragedy before APSA and Gregg is working on a chapter on our current President. The weird thing about writing a chapter of my dissertation for a conference is this: I have dual goals in mind. On one hand, I feel that if I reach 25-30 pages, I have a decent paper to present. On the other hand, it is not complete until I have covered the material I want to cover – and that has no page deadline. Right now, I am focusing on the first goal rather than the second.
We also walked 3 miles apiece on Saturday. We have made a new resolution – to exercise a little every day. The reasons for this and the best way to achieve this goal is something I will discuss in my next post. It was a big day for me – 3 miles for someone who never walks at all is a challenge.
Our goals for Sunday are more of the same – exercise a little, write a little, play with Giggs (which is part of our everyday lives now).
But this has been a fabulous weekend – hang out with friends, exercise (which is a new thing for me), play with your dog, and some work done on the dissertation. This is my idea of a well-rounded weekend.
What did everyone else do?
When Sam first walked in the door, Giggs started barking and this did not stop for the first 15 minutes. After that, he decided that he would walk over to Stacie who was sitting with Sam and accept some delicious salmon treats from her. It took 30-45 minutes of bribing Giggs with treats and threatening to spray him with water if he barked, for him to calm down enough to let him off his leash. After that, Giggs seemed to perk up, stopped barking and ran around the house checking to see where Sam was. However, the play-date was a little disappointing for Sam because Giggs refused to play with him. Poor Sam, he tried so hard. He sniffed Giggs (in some unmentionable places!!), he lay down, he rolled over – he tried to be as unthreatening as possible. Just for the record, Sam is 45 pounds to Giggs’ 7, so rough play might rightly have scared Giggs. A wagging tail from Sam is enough to knock Giggs over. However, Giggs did play when we took them outside – probably the space to run made him feel safer.
After a couple of hours when we were sure things were calm, we left the dogs at home (we separated them) and went out to get lunch. We went to the Iron Hill Brewery – it is a chain but limited to the PA, NJ, Delaware area. They brew a lot of their own beers. It was very nice catching up, I had not seen Stacie for almost a year – since APSA last year. Unfortunately, Stacie, Evan and Sam had to leave shortly after lunch but it was a great day for me nonetheless.
On Saturday, Gregg and I worked on our dissertations. I have to write a chapter on tragedy before APSA and Gregg is working on a chapter on our current President. The weird thing about writing a chapter of my dissertation for a conference is this: I have dual goals in mind. On one hand, I feel that if I reach 25-30 pages, I have a decent paper to present. On the other hand, it is not complete until I have covered the material I want to cover – and that has no page deadline. Right now, I am focusing on the first goal rather than the second.
We also walked 3 miles apiece on Saturday. We have made a new resolution – to exercise a little every day. The reasons for this and the best way to achieve this goal is something I will discuss in my next post. It was a big day for me – 3 miles for someone who never walks at all is a challenge.
Our goals for Sunday are more of the same – exercise a little, write a little, play with Giggs (which is part of our everyday lives now).
But this has been a fabulous weekend – hang out with friends, exercise (which is a new thing for me), play with your dog, and some work done on the dissertation. This is my idea of a well-rounded weekend.
What did everyone else do?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A WASPy Day
Jill’s blog is called: “Am I Waspy”? While I think this is a good question for Jill to ask herself, I have never had to ask myself this question. Clearly I am not a WASP. I am not White or Anglo-Saxon or Protestant. Nor do I have particularly WASPy tendencies: I do not like decorating or sewing or dressing up for a meal. I like cooking but setting tables and making flower arrangements is not for me. But this past Saturday, I had the closest thing to a WASPy day that I have ever had.
As I said before, Gregg’s parents came to Lancaster this weekend. Saturday was their guys’ day – and Gregg, his dad and his brother all went to Philly for the day. They were scheduled back around midnight after watching the Phillies game. So, what were his mom and I to do?
Not to be outdone, we decided to have a special day too. I had made reservations at this place: the House of Clarendon. It was to be an English High Tea. It turned out to exceed expectations. The tea they served was an English Breakfast from Piccadilly. It had a subtle aroma, a gentle mellow taste and was perfect with just a splash of milk. The food accompanying the tea was also perfect. As we all know, English tea is accompanied by finger foods. This place serves 7 savories and 7 sweets – all bite-sized – with the tea. I thought that 14 bite-sized pieces of food cannot possibly be filling. I was so wrong!!! Thank goodness, we did not have time to get breakfast before we went for tea at noon. The savories included spinach and cream cheese pinwheels, a chicken tartlet, sausage rolls, stuffed phyllo etc. At the end of this, I was already starting to feel satiated. But the 7 sweets put me over the edge. They included mini éclairs, scones with apricot, lemon and raspberry puffs and even a mint tea in a chocolate cup – and you are supposed to eat the cup after drinking the tea. All the food and the tea was served piece by piece and we just sat and relaxed and talked for two hours. This, combined with the fact that you have to dress up a little to go to this place, made me feel very WASPy. But we had a great time.
After this tea, Gregg’s mom and I decided to take a nap. Unfortunately, I had not counted on Giggs being super-hyper after being left alone all day. So, my nap was rather short!!! Then, in the evening, we got up, got dressed all over again and went to the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster to watch a play – Brigadoon. I had never heard of it but it is a romantic play about a guy who falls in love with a woman who lives in an enchanted village in Scotland. The village appears to the outside world every 100 years and so when he decides not to stay with her, he is forgoing her forever. The question is: is he (and she) doomed to live with his decision forever or can they see each other again in spite of the enchantment. I will not spoil the ending for those who do not know it. Anyway, suffice it to say, that unlike the rest of the audience, I was torn. Everyone wanted them to get back together – I thought however that while second chances are good, maybe living with the consequences of one’s actions is a necessary lesson. But the acting and dancing and singing were really good and again, we had a very good time. It felt good to be dressed up, at a play, doing something cultural instead of sprawling in PJs in front of the TV at home.
After the play, we did do something un-WASPy – go home and pig out on pizza and Chinese food. But on the whole, it was a really nice day – and to me, the WASPiest things I have done so far.
As I said before, Gregg’s parents came to Lancaster this weekend. Saturday was their guys’ day – and Gregg, his dad and his brother all went to Philly for the day. They were scheduled back around midnight after watching the Phillies game. So, what were his mom and I to do?
Not to be outdone, we decided to have a special day too. I had made reservations at this place: the House of Clarendon. It was to be an English High Tea. It turned out to exceed expectations. The tea they served was an English Breakfast from Piccadilly. It had a subtle aroma, a gentle mellow taste and was perfect with just a splash of milk. The food accompanying the tea was also perfect. As we all know, English tea is accompanied by finger foods. This place serves 7 savories and 7 sweets – all bite-sized – with the tea. I thought that 14 bite-sized pieces of food cannot possibly be filling. I was so wrong!!! Thank goodness, we did not have time to get breakfast before we went for tea at noon. The savories included spinach and cream cheese pinwheels, a chicken tartlet, sausage rolls, stuffed phyllo etc. At the end of this, I was already starting to feel satiated. But the 7 sweets put me over the edge. They included mini éclairs, scones with apricot, lemon and raspberry puffs and even a mint tea in a chocolate cup – and you are supposed to eat the cup after drinking the tea. All the food and the tea was served piece by piece and we just sat and relaxed and talked for two hours. This, combined with the fact that you have to dress up a little to go to this place, made me feel very WASPy. But we had a great time.
After this tea, Gregg’s mom and I decided to take a nap. Unfortunately, I had not counted on Giggs being super-hyper after being left alone all day. So, my nap was rather short!!! Then, in the evening, we got up, got dressed all over again and went to the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster to watch a play – Brigadoon. I had never heard of it but it is a romantic play about a guy who falls in love with a woman who lives in an enchanted village in Scotland. The village appears to the outside world every 100 years and so when he decides not to stay with her, he is forgoing her forever. The question is: is he (and she) doomed to live with his decision forever or can they see each other again in spite of the enchantment. I will not spoil the ending for those who do not know it. Anyway, suffice it to say, that unlike the rest of the audience, I was torn. Everyone wanted them to get back together – I thought however that while second chances are good, maybe living with the consequences of one’s actions is a necessary lesson. But the acting and dancing and singing were really good and again, we had a very good time. It felt good to be dressed up, at a play, doing something cultural instead of sprawling in PJs in front of the TV at home.
After the play, we did do something un-WASPy – go home and pig out on pizza and Chinese food. But on the whole, it was a really nice day – and to me, the WASPiest things I have done so far.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A Long Weekend
Gregg and I at Yankee Stadium I have been meaning to write about last weekend for a while. A couple of months ago, Gregg and I bought tickets to a Yankees-Royals game on Sunday (the 8th) in Yankee Stadium. We love going to baseball games and have decided to see one new baseball stadium every year. Since Yankee Stadium is going to be torn down after this season, it was now or never. We both hate the Yankees but this was more in the interest of history than anything else.
Anyway, at the time we bought the tickets we did not know that we would have another member of the family to think about; Giggs was not in the picture then. We had planned to drive to New York, watch the game and return the same day. This was impossible because of Giggs and Gregg refused to put him in a kennel since he still has separation anxiety when we are not with him. So, we decided to go to CT on Saturday, leave Giggs with Gregg’s parents on Sunday and return after the game to pick him up.
However, things got more complicated when my great-uncle (my maternal grandfather’s brother) called and said he would be in CT on Friday. He lives in Jakarta and would be flying out on Saturday. I have not seen him in 5 years. But we are very close and he spoilt us rotten our whole lives. So, I promised to get to CT on Friday instead of Saturday so we could see him.
This is why we ended up getting to CT on Thursday. We introduced Giggs to Gregg’s parents. They have never had a dog before and I was worried that he would be naughty or soil their carpets – thereby making them dislike him. But they were wonderful and so was Giggs. He did not have a single accident the whole weekend (he is 90% house-trained already) and when we were not there, he spent his time sleeping on their laps. They were so sweet to him, took him out every time he needed to go, played with him and refused to crate him. Like parents, like son!!!!
On Friday, we spent most of the day with Giggs and then left for Stamford to meet my great-uncle. Gregg was a little nervous (meeting new family members is always uncomfortable) but everything went well. He got along very well with my great-uncle and his son (who was born and brought up in the United States). We stayed for dinner, talked about politics and had a lot of fun. In the meantime, Gregg’s parents bonded with Giggs.
We spent Saturday with Gregg’s parents. Gregg’s mom went out and bought Giggs about 5 new toys, 3 boxes of treats and even a bandana which says ‘Democrats in ‘08’. By the way, Gregg refuses to let him wear it. Then they took us out for lunch and I had the best sweet potato fries. I usually like real instead of sweet potatoes but they were awesome!!
Sunday morning, we left Giggs and took a train in to New York. Let me just say that New York always makes me anxious. Too many people, too much noise, too fast-paced!!! The number of people on the subway from Grand Central to Yankee Stadium alone was mind-boggling!!! Gregg insisted that I not wear one of my many Red Sox t-shirts. The game itself was fun. I was very excited for the short time when the Kansas City Royals had the lead but that dissipated when it was clear that the Yankees would win. It was 95F and I was very glad for the hand-held plastic fans which Gregg’s mom had supplied us with. But the atmosphere (though enemy territory for a Red Sox fan) was electric and the game itself was fun.
After the game was over, we took the train back to CT, picked up Giggs and drove home. It was a very long but fun weekend.
I will post more pictures of Giggs (as requested by many) in the next couple of days.
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