Weddings, Circuses, and More!

Okay, I’m sorry. I’ve really been a slacker when it comes to blogging this month. It’s May 27^th, and this will only be fourth time I’ve updated (and probably the last time I do before June). My bad. I’ll do better in June though. I promise.

In the last two weeks I’ve done a whole lot. Let’s see if I give you a little glimpse through pictures:

Where to begin….

Well I bought some new pointy shoes

Which I wore to a wedding. And of course, at the wedding there was dancing...

(but it’s funnier to show you a picture of T than of me).

I’ve also put quite a few miles (or kilometers on my bike). So as T. Sometimes we ride alone, some times it’s with two people, or every once and a while we ride three deep...

I also went to the Indian Circus: It was kind of like a “western circus”

And then when I went to my friends’ house to spend the night, all the kids decided to reenact the circus for us!

(I think that’s supposed to be a sword… He kind of looks like a dinosaur though)

These two guys are being the scantily clad dancers, or as their literal Hindi translation would be "dirty girls"

And even the dog joined in

It’s been a crazy few weeks . feel like I haven’t stopped for very long, but it’s been a lot of fun. Our friends who are here with us leave next Saturday, and T and I will also be headed out for a few days to Nepal. Maybe I’ll get another blog out before then, maybe not. Either way, expect more pictures in the not too distant future!

-एरिक

In only 15 minutes

Some days I still cant' get over the fact that this...

is only 15 minutes from this...

-एरिक

Dangerous Driving

Driving in India is always a little crazy, but yesterday was especially scary for me. And, Mom, before I start these stories, I’m okay.

Around 5pm yesterday I was downtown, and was riding my bike over to the girls’ house. I was going slowly, like 30 kmph, and traffic was pretty bad. This guy swerved over in front of me, I slammed on my brakes, and then an old lady stepped out into the street. I had to lay my bike over (that’s a pleasant way of saying I crashed semi-on purpose), knocking the lady over. Luckily, I wasn’t going very fast, and she was okay. There was a police officer right there who saw it happen and he knew that it wasn’t my fault, so I didn’t get into any trouble. I did feel really bad for the little lady though. She was okay, and so was I, but my bike got hurt a little bit. I broke my clutch lever (it’s like the left hand brake lever), bent the shifter by my left foot and knocked of one of my rear view mirrors. I was going to the service center tomorrow for my scheduled tune up anyways, so I’ll probably just have to leave it a day or two and get all that fixed. It still drives fine, just needs a little fixer up now.

In this picture you can see the broken clutch, and then down at the bottom the foot shifter is bent in.

My mirror on the other side broke off. The way it was bent I'm guessing I hit it when I fell.



Then, last night on my way home from dinner around 8:15 or 8:30, I was coming down this little narrow, windy road that’s just a little wider than a car. A car came FLYING down the road in the opposite direction (probably at 60+kmph when even late, late at night I won’t go more than about 45 on a bike down that road). I nearly had to lay my bike over again, but somehow managed to get as far over as possible without falling into the gutter. He missed me by just a couple of inches, then he over corrected, hit a wall, and bounced between the two walls, probably totaling the car. He got out and wasn’t hurt (but he was probably drunk), so I didn’t stay around (since it wasn’t my fault at all and I’d had enough of traffic accidents for today).

I don’t know what was wrong with the people driving yesterday. I mean, there’s usually traffic and stuff, but people were just crazy for some reason yesterday!

Luckily everyone was okay in both situations, but I as I drove my bike in the rain to the shop this morning (only to find out the service center is closed on Tuesdays), I saw the car from last night sitting in an alley way with three flat tires, a broken window, and some big dents. There’s no doubt that I was being watched over last night!