US, US, baby

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!*

Ever feel that way? I’m kinda at that point right now…

Anywho…just got back from another nearby state, so that’s why I was MIA for a couple of days…will have pics and such soon.

Well, you know, after I get a glass of water to take another dose of those pills.

*10 points if you can name the movie this line came from

Yes, yes. It’s a golf course. It’s actually even used for that sometimes. And it’s the most popular Sunday picnic spot in the city.

I have to admit, the part of me that grew up as one of the kids who didn’t have a Country Club membership, gasped at the blatant abuse of the links…I can’t think of anyplace in the states where this would happen.

I just bought new shoes. My colleagues have been laughing at me since I discovered a month ago there were holes in the bottom of these. But it was just the yellow rubber layer, and the hole didn’t cause a problem unless it rained…then water soaked through. (Yes, I know I’m cheap)

But after last Sunday’s day of mucho walking, one more layer came through on the right shoe.

I’d bought these crazy beasts in Vietnam when I had to have close-toed shoes for a tour we were taking. I just wanted some cheapo $3 canvas shoes. Being Vietnam, though, all they had were knock-offs of an American brand (which I actually hadn’t realized it was an American brand until I got to Australia and everyone there was wearing it and thinking it was tres American). And so I ended up paying a lot more than $3.

I had put off buying new shoes because I figured they’d get as nasty and dirty as the ol’ yeller ones. But considering my socks and feet got dirty from wearing these, today I broke down and bought their Indian counterpart.

Yeah.

This other park in Shillong is a popular Sunday picnic spot (clearly, eh?). But it’s not really a park or a picnic spot.

The answer is to come…

I think this basketball goal at the same park where the playground was may just about be the saddest looking little basketball goal I’ve seen.

Oddly, there are a lot of sad little basketball goals around…and they’re rarely used, it seems. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve seen two kids playing, and they were taking shots like a three-year-old with the plastic hoop. Part of me wanted to go over and give them a little coaching. Or at least see if I could play a game of H-O-R-S-E or something.

Apparently, playground areas in India are a lot like the ones in the U.S. They even have the randomly placed tractor tires.

Another thought: The best part of touring the city with one of the girls from the office…having an excuse to play on all the playground equipment, of course. And I learned the Hindi word for “swing” too. Hopefully it will come in handy later.

At a party thrown by an American expat last week, I met an American couple about my age. The wife was, I’m pretty sure preggers, so when they sat down next to me, I asked when she was due. As I’ve termed this year of travel also the “year of the baby” (I’ve had no less than 6 friends and family members give birth or e-mail me with the announcement since I left in May), I’m starting to understand all the baby planning things that come along with pre-parenting.

After we talked about the due date and when she’d take the baby home to see her folks, I asked if they knew if it was a boy or girl yet, or if they were waiting to find out.

Then, of course, I was reminded this is India. It’s illegal for a doctor to tell them if it’s a boy or girl…

While in Tripura last month, I visited another temple that had a man-made “lake” with revered tortoises. I barely saw the tortoises, but the fish…now they were massive.

As you can barely see them in the real photo, I messed around with saturation so you could see just how humongo they were…keeping in mind the dog in the photo is a full-size one.

Walking away from them, I passed another rack of those USA hankies. I probably should have bought one as with my cold, I’d run out of tissue long before. Ah, well…

Almost forgot that the New Year’s Eve concert featured an American band.

Difference United performed as (I think) the third band of the night. During their performance, something about them made me think they must be a Christian rock group. I think it was the facts that the lead singer had a bit of a Southern twang, I’d never heard of them, and they had these really bad dancers wearing white tees and red track pants…doing a kind of hyped-up version of the “signing” hand dances popular in mega-churches in the ’90s (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, there’s a scene in Napolean Dynamite where Napolean is performing one of these dances with some girls).

The band’s myspace.com page confirmed the group’s Christian roots, which is probably why they came to uber-Christian North East in the first place. Sometimes it’s so weird being in a place that’s more Christian than the Bible belt I grew up in.

After almost half the year spent in LA, and the rest spent in the East — and blogging about all things Yank — I figured I’d give you my all-American highs, lows, and random memories from 2007.

Best Movie By/About Americans Watched: Journey from the Fall
Best Book By/About Americans Read: Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
Best New American Pop Song: “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston
Best Piece of Americana Found Abroad: Takinas in Xi’an, China

Worst Movie By/About Americans Watched: War on Democracy
Worst Book By/About Americans Read: Bangkok Babylon by Jerry Hopkins
Worst New American Pop Song: Whatever the name is of Britney’s “comeback” single
Worst Piece of Americana Found Abroad: The Lack of People Who Have Seen Office Space

Number of Americans Met While Traveling, That I Actually Have Kept in Touch with: 2
Number of Non-Americans Met While Traveling, That I Actually Have Kept in Touch with: 16
Number of American-penned “Love Letters” Received, Written on a Torn Book Cover Showing a Really Gruesome Killing: 1
Number of American-penned “Love Letters” Responded to: 0
Number of Times I’ve Been Asked “Where are you from? No…where are you REALLY from?” (or an Equivalent): approximately 365
Number of Newly Used Pages in My Ol’ Blue Passport: 11
Number of American Celebrity Sightings/Encounters: 11 (Dennis Rodman, Ty Pennington, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Brittany Daniel [aka Sweet Vally High twin aka Brandy from Joe Dirt, Darius McCrary [aka Eddie Winslow], Alan Thicke, Eddie Griffith, Rosanna Arquette, Scott Foley [aka Noel from Felicity], Dennis Haysbert [aka the president from the first season of 24 aka the All-State Man], and Senator Joe Lieberman)

A Quick Comparison
New Year’s Eve 2006: cocktailing, missed the champagne toast because of a fussy customer, somewhat annoyed at a sort-of random Estonian (who wasn’t the fussy customer)
New Year’s Eve 2007: listening to a live concert, had a white-wine toast with colleagues, somewhat annoyed at a sort-of random Indian

The All-American Year Ahead
(or What US, US, baby is Looking Forward to in 2008)
-returning to the friends and family in the US
-seeing the Sex and the City movie on its release weekend
-voting in a swing state in the presidential election