Kochin

We are now in Kochin- the area were my family came from. We are staying in Ernakulam- the city (used to be just a town) my dad and my uncle were born in. We went to see the neighborhood yesterday: saw my dad's preschool and two synagogues, but couldn't locate the exact house and my grandfather's store (my grandfather was a butcher. Good thing he never knew his granddaughter is a vegetarian..). After looking for the place, we decided my dad will take pictures and show one of the other siblings (They are Nine) and figure out which of the houses is the one. In the meantime we've taken pictures of all the optional ones so once we know we'll have a photo of the house:-)
Later we went around town (which is one big city these days). We were all so fed up with the Indian food we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. It was good not to have my mouth on fire for one night.
Other than that My funny signs collection is getting bigger and bigger! Today's hit: a sign saying "Dutch cemetery" and underneath on small letters another saying "God's own country" or something like that. I thought it was historical.
Another thing to be mentioned is the daily power cut off. Unbelievable. There hasn't been a single day with no power cuts. Makes me feel right at home!
can't believe I'll be home in Three days.

Thekkady- Masa Alukot

So, it's been a few days. We have been to quite a few places, and now we are in Munnar- our last stop before Kochin. The road was rather steep and incredible. Tea plantations, trees, mountains, lakes- gorgeous.
Today's amusing story: yesterday we were in Thekkady- a very toured area. We decided to go on an organized trip which included a jeep safari, a hike and boating. We got up at 5:00 am (ugh) and left. The safari part was OK- no animals though- they promised elephants, cows, tigers.... it was showering rain.
We had breakfast in a pavilion in which some guy gave us a lecture about the area. Jees, the mans accent was totally unfamiliar to the human ear, and I couldn't stop giggling. He spotted that and lectured me (!!) which of course made me giggle even more. In the showering rain we left for our 3 hours hike. The good news- we saw animals. The bad news- they were leaches! Millions of them! We weren't quite prepared for that, so basically every ten seconds we had to stop for salt pouring and tried poking them with a stick. It was actually quite hilarious. The best part was when all of a sudden Nili started screaming and jumping around- she had a leach leaching its way on her hand. Being the good sister I am, I started smirking and moved to laughing my ass off seeing how funny the situation was. Eventually the leach was off and I paid my due- after peeling my rain sleeves, socks and shoes I realized one very brave leach nibbled on my leg. Oh well, who needs blood anyway?
On another note, we also visited an ashram a few days ago. Being an amazingly cynical person, I wasn't all that impressed, but we are thinking of sending my dad there for a while.
As mentioned we are now in Munar and are leaving tomorrow for Kochin- the cream on the top of our trip.
Shabbat shalom!

Bim bam bum, Trivandrum!

Or my way of saying I can't find a good enough title. Yesterday we arrived to the resort here in Poovar- Isolated Island very close to the beach- beautiful. We had a great time RELAXING seeing as we were exhausted. This morning we went back to Trivandrum (Thiruvanathapuram), went to see a Hindu temple, a museum, an old palace and the best part- the zoo. My uncle decided he has to see a tiger, therefor all of us went to the zoo. It was really funny, and we saw some really cool animals like monkeys, elephants, bambis (I know it's not their real name..), hippos (and a baby one too!) and- a tiger. We also saw a lion who I think looked exactly like Scar.
Funny thing for today- this time around we found a very interesting way to point out toilets for men and women. Here are Three examples: at the zoo there were photos of a man and a woman. At the resort there was a "He" and a"She" and today's winner- "King" and "Queen". Never in my life have I felt so royal as I did in the bathroom.
So far India is very cool- It is sort of what I pictured in my head. It is really cool that my aunt and uncle can communicate, and very useful too. But we all agreed that we must figure out how to do that head movement from side to side  (Nili and I have been practicing). Nurit and Shimon have been trying to teach us Mali Alam. Man, this language is a bitch . I can, however share with you the fact that my vocabulary is made up of animals mostly- I can say dog (patti), elephant (annah), frog (tavlachi), horse (something that sounds like Kudrah), and of course- monkey (korinechen). All pronounced very rolling-toung-ishly. I was so proud I could say monkey I sort of yelled it in the zoo. Yep, now a few Indian people think that I am weird. Well, I guess it isn't all that surprising.
I guess I'll call it a day- it's an annoying computer and due to the rain we had power cut off a few times (gees, shock)- won't risk it happening again.
photos to come.... sometime:-)

India,here I come!

Man, it sure has been a while.... anyway, a lot has happened in the past year since I got back- got back home, started Uni, striked, worked, striked some more, lived and all the rest of the blah blah.
However, it so happens that I am leaving for Sri-Lanka and India in two days. Will be traveling with La Famillia for two weeks (and a day. horray fot that!). The master plan is as follows- 3 days in Sri Lanka, and then Kerala- a province in southern India, where my dad was born and grew up (what in outstanding coincidence). He is rather excited about the trip (and umm, so are the rest of us).. So I hope I'll find the time to update my traveling blog, but since it'll be rather short and very intense- I am not sure it'll happen.
so meanwhile- Happy Sukkot people!