Crafting and More Shopping

On Friday we had a pretty relaxing day. After breakfast we were allowed to head out back to the campsite and make some traditional Indian crafts. We were taught how to make flower garlands. They are worn during important ceremonies or festivals, and given to visitors as a sign of welcoming. We made our garlands with tube roses, marigolds, and roses. The campsite smelled sooo good from the tube roses. After making our garlands we tried our hand at cross-stitching. My sister-in-law would have been proud at me doing all these types of stitches, but it was something I definitely was not too good at. I gave up just in time for lunch that day. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing. Holly and I went for a swim in the pool (yes it was cold, but refreshing I guess) and just hung around and talked. At night we watched some episodes of The Office (which some of the girls here have never seen) and then went to bed.

Yesterday, Saturday, was an adventure! We had off, the three CVPs (community volunteer programmers) so we decided to go to another shopping area, Laxme Road. It's a more authentic area of town, less western than MG road. It was very busy but we got along just fine navigating through the small roads and such. There were so many clothing stores and there was even something called Bangle Alley which sold, well you can guess. We found a store which sold Sari blouses (something we've been looking for for days!) so we headed in to buy our material. Holly and I bought Sari's as well (number two for me!) then we found a place for lunch. We wanted to be tough, so we just ordered three things on the menu. Luckily one was noodles and the other was vegetables that were almost deep fried (which of course was delicious) but the third thing was my mistake. On the menu, it said Koufta, so I said "oh! I know what that is! Those are like meatball kind of things, but I don't know what they make them with here". So we ordered it...well, it looked nothing like Koufta. It was like a sweet sauce thing with cottage cheese like substance in it and raisins and such. I was not happy that the only thing I thought I knew was completely different, but Muriel and Holly thought it was funny. We just laughed it off, and headed back to the center. Holly and I went for another swim and then at night watched a movie with all the girls. It was Jemma's birthday so we all sat up just talking and hanging out into the wee-hours.