Fourth of July... fiasco.

Ha ha ha- so maybe "fiasco" is a little too strong of a word. More like... not quite as we planned.

To compensate for the fact that Allison and I are out of the country (yet again) for what we both consider to be one of the most entertaining of all American holidays, we decided quite a while ago that we would have an "American Adventure" after volunteering on the fourth (yesterday). We had a plan: American movie in the afternoon and Domino's pizza and breadsticks for dinner. We looked up movie times and locations- which was complicated by the fact that a new, highly anticipated Bollywood film just opened on the 3rd (Which we do plan to attend- probably tomorrow. :) ) and is showing just about everywhere. But we figured it out... or at least we thought we did.

That's one of the things about Kolkata- nothing seems to go quite as you plan it.

First off, the movie theater that we planned to go to apparently doesn't exist- or at least doesn't exist where Google map claims. We got pretty epically lost and so decided to retreat to the Blue Sky for veggie burgers- in lieu of the typical BBQ.

But still we did not give up hope- there was another theater that was showing the movie we wanted- the Hangover- in the evening. So we re-planned for pizza and then movie.

We went to Domino's- suffice it to say that I will NOT be doing that again any time soon. I was actually quite shocked by how we reacted after only eating relatively small amounts of (comparatively healthy) Indian food to the just-a-little-too-big pizza and breadsticks. I did not feel that great afternwards... but we still went along with the movie plan.

After picking up an acquaintance Australian and then getting lost, we actually found this movie theater (improvement!)... only to find that our movie was sold out. After we grudgingly changed plans and decided to go to the new Bollywood film instead, we figured out that prices more than double on saturday nights- which would have meant that EACH of us would have paid only 10 rupees less than the cost of our hostel every night- for BOTH of us. Needless to say- we gave up.

But we did end up talking American politics with the Australian on the roof... so not a totally un-patriotic day after all. <3

Still, the true irony of the situation came this morning when I woke up not feeling that great. Although I'm almost positive that other factors were involved--- the fact that the first time I got ill in India was after eating American food..... is ironic, to say the least.

My lesson: When in India, do as the Indians do. Lol. (As Allison says, "eat nan." )

I've actually been wondering about how to balance the fact that I have a culture, and the fact that I'm being immersed IN a culture. Obviously I can't just shun a major part of who I am. But how much should I put on hold for the next few months- or perhaps eternally. (Allison and I just had a conversation today about how truly ridiculous it is that neither of us have to do laundry for approximately a month when at home, well if we really don't want to.) Obviously, as we are experiencing first hand, we can survive on MUCH less.... Maybe I'll have to have a garage sale when I get home, lol.

Well, as Sophie so wisely said... "aste aste." Or, "slowly slowly."

Let's see where it takes us. :D

Love and miss you all,
Hannah