Tara and the boys are back. They had a great time. Aidan was cute - when we were driving home after they arrived, he kept asking what I did for a living. He was deeply interested. I couldn't figure out why, then it dawned on me....
He was so amazed by the place to which they went that he wanted to know what you needed to do in life to be able to provide experiences like the one they had in Goa. It was a nice feeling, I enjoyed it.
Tara had a funny experience today. She went to buy some fish today. She was the only person at the fish counter in the store. She stated what she wanted. The fish seller told her that she had to take a number. She looked around, in part to see if she was still the only one standing there (she was) and in part to look for a hidden camera.
She took the ticket.
Number seven.
Almost immediately there was a bell sound followed by an smooth American female voice stating, "Now serving.... Number 7".
The butcher took the ticket from her and looked at it, validating it was indeed number 7. He then proceeded to give her the fish she had requested.
This is a akin to an experience we had during our first few months here....
In the US, you go to a counter and order a cup of coffee in a coffee shop. They get it for you and you take it and sit down and start drinking.
So, we came to India with that in mind. We walked up and gave a full order at Cafe Coffee Day, India's answer to Starbucks. The guy listened to us request what we wanted and then said, "Ma'am, sir - please have a seat." We turned around and sat down at a table. The same guy then walked up and handed each of us a menu. He walked away as we sat there. About three minutes later, he walked up and asked if he could take our order. We stared at him for a bit, then at each other.
I spoke first, "...um, we still want what we asked for at the register."
He nodded and wrote the order down, finally.
To continue with this funny theme, Tara once called for a pizza for the kids. The guy at the other end of the phone took her order - a plain cheese pizza. This was from Dominoes, an American chain. Here's the conversation:
"Hello, Dominoes."
"Yes, I would like to order a pizza for delivery."
"Hello. Hello."
"Yes, I would like to order a cheese pizza."
"Yes, ma'am - tell me."
"I would like one large cheese pizza."
"Ok, ma'am. Would you like a drink with that?"
"No, just one cheese pizza."
"Would you like to have some bread sticks with that?"
"No, just one large cheese pizza."
"But you get a special discount on the drinks if you order bead sti-"
"No, we only want one large cheese pizza."
"Ma'am, it is a special...."
"No, just the one cheese pizza!"
"Ok, ma'am. May I repeat your order?"
At this point, Tara paused and wasn't sure what to say.....
"OK, sure."
"One large cheese pizza."
Tara started laughing so hard that she could barely respond.
So, it's just funny sometimes here in India.
They will have pictures for the blog tomorrow.
