Bollywood Dance

I haven't danced since the final year of college. But I always wanted to learn how to dance. When I heard about Mona Khan Dance Company from my SIL, I was eager to give it a chance. I signed up right away.

It was a 8 week session with an hour long class each week. It being a performance quarter, we also had a technical rehearsal before the final performance. The first day I reached class, I was very excited as well as scared whether I'd be able to grasp the steps. The teacher, Shipali introduced herself as well as the assistant teacher, Dhanashri. She told us we were going to learn the choreography for two songs-Rock the party (I had never heard the song before) and High heels.

I was exhausted after the first class especially since I hadn't been doing any cardio for a while. The teacher recorded the last 5 mins of the class and sent over a detailed email on the steps that we learnt in class along with the video recording. This was super helpful in remembering the steps.

After the first few classes, all the students decided to meet on the weekend to practice. It was fun meeting at a different house each week and dancing. There was a lot of food and chit chat along with the practice. It was quite tough to get everyone to come at a common time but we tried.

On the last class, we had a dress rehearsal.

We then had the tech rehearsal at Chabot college in Hayward. It gave us the exact feel of the final performance day. It was useful to mark our positions on stage and to get over the stage fear a little.

On the final performance day, Vishnu, SIL and BIL all came to watch the show.

I was pumped and happy about my hair, makeup and overall look.

When our performance started, there was some difficulty with the stage curtain and we had to stop and restart. That was a little unsettling but we managed to give a superb performance. Everyone gave their best and I'm very happy with the final result. Our 8 weeks of hard work showed and I surprised myself with my performance.

I've signed up for the next session (non performance) and I'm looking forward to improving my skills and learning some fun steps.

And it's a year already!

Aug 16th was the day I stepped into the US-a new life, a new home. And I have completed one year already. It has been a busy yet wonderful time.

I have to admit not everything was rosy. The first six months without the car were very painful and I did get annoyed about it most of the times. Not having a job and spending most of the day online looking up vacancies, applying and interviewing also tested my patience. Trying to socialize and make new friends in a foreign country was also a difficult task especially for an introvert like me.

But I think the positive aspects of this move outnumber the negatives. I traveled to so many beautiful places-San Diego, Las Vegas, Sonoma and all the local touristy spots. I made some really good friends, tried my hand at Zumba, started this blog, worked as a freelancer, got employed full-time, learnt baking, volunteered, learnt Italian, got introduced to Hitchcock films, visited some wonderful museums and I'm currently learning how to drive and swim. I love the fact that there are so many opportunities to explore. I know I've only scratched the surface. There are tons of things that I have on my list and so many places to see. This is only the beginning and I'm prepared and excited for another year of fun, adventure, learning and happiness.

Our New Car-Finally!

That's our new baby! Classy, isn't it? It's the 2013 Scion FR-S!

After eight painful months that seemed like a lifetime, we finally bought our own car and it feels amazing. As noted in my previous posts, not having a car was severely limiting our capacity to go anywhere or do anything fun since very few places are accessible via public transportation.

V got his license in January and we have been renting cars ever since. The plan was to get a rental until we decide which car we wanted to buy and then go get it. Sounds simple enough. Obviously, it wasn't.

The in-depth research and analysis (clearly not done by me) to finally narrow down on the car make and model took almost a month. Next step? Calling the dealers and buying one, right? Wrong! Apparently, this particular model has a 2-3 months wait time. There is a high demand, low supply problem and this means we get whatever stock the dealer has (if any).

Every weekend, the routine was similar. Call up all the Toyota dealers in the Bay Area stating the requirements, only to hear them promise that they will call us as soon as they get one. This carried on for a month and a half!

Finally, last Friday we got a call from two dealers informing us that they they had a few Scions in stock. We first went to Sunnyvale Toyota dealer- the car was pearl white-not my first choice. The second dealer in Burlingame had said he had a black one in stock. So we drove all the way to Burlingame. The car was obviously the right color but the dealer was a slimy fellow. He was so pushy, unaccommodating and annoying that we were pissed off thoroughly and preferred to go with the pearl white color at Sunnyvale than do business with this pest. Anyways, after the harrowing experience at Burlingame we came right back to the Sunnyvale dealer and booked it.

That's us in the dealer's parking lot after we got the keys to our shiny new ride.

It is a head turner and I love it when people stop to notice it :)

Diwali

My first diwali in the US. Since we don't know a lot of people, I knew it was going to be a low key affair.

The fun and exciting part of my diwali was that I prepared a few of the traditional snacks and sweets at home all by myself. I went grocery shopping and got all the required things and tried out 5 different things-4 of them turned out well. But hey for a first timer, that is a pretty good number.

Take a look-this is what I made.

That is chivda, shankarpali, namakpare and maladu for you. Doesn't it look yummy?
Since I'm all about healthy eating these days, I baked the shankarpali and namakpare.

On diwali morning, I got all dressed up and then distributed the sweets to my neighbours and got some sweets in return. And that was my simple diwali celebration.

Ganesh Chaturthi

The first Indian festival after our big move here. With all the crazy, hectic schedule, I definitely wasn't prepared for it. However, I'm proud of how well I managed it :)

Since I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, I decided to keep it simple. To begin with, I didn't even have a Ganesh idol. I went to the nearby Indian store and picked up a Ganesh photo. 

Now for the prasad. Last year I had bought some modaks from a sweet shop and used it as prasad. This year I wanted to make something on my own. I spent a lot of time going through YouTube videos on modak recipes. They didn't seem too easy and I wasn't in a mood to take any risks. So I decided to make this:

Choco-coconut barfi-my own version of the barfi with a twist. Although I wouldn't say it came out perfect but it sure as hell tasted amazing. I packed some and gave it to my neighbours. "It tastes exactly like my grandma's barfi" they told me. It felt so good to be appreciated for the hard work. Next, I took some along with me to my gym. I fed the instructors and they were ooh-ing and aah-ing about the delicacy. I knew it was a hit with them. 

I just lit a lamp, offered the barfi, played the aarti on YouTube and prayed. That was how simple my first Ganesh Chaturthi here was. 

Ikea Customer Service-A Nightmare

Much as I couldn't stop raving about Ikea's amazing collection and fabulous designs, I must admit that their customer service sucks.

After being mooney-eyed about their furniture, I bought a whole bunch of stuff. We opted for home delivery service. The goods arrived on the promised date. However, the delivery guys were so careless that they ended up scratching the walls while taking the mattress into the bedroom. To make matters worse, they forgot one package. They were not even willing to check the number of items they need to deliver. We had to go through the list and remind them of the missing package. And this was only the beginning of our troubles.

We called the Ikea customer care number and the IVR put us on hold for almost 20 minutes. As soon as  you dial in, an automated response tells you that all the agents are busy and that the wait time is 15-20 minutes. If this was a one off case, I wouldn't mind. But this happens every single time I try calling them. If you know that at any given time, more customers than you can handle need assistance, as  a business it is only natural for you to fulfill your duty of providing additional agents to provide support.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, we finally spoke to a rep who said that they would be conducting a ware house wide search and would deliver the item in 7 days. I wouldn't have complained if this was the case. But 7 days passed and nothing happened. I called them again. This time they told me that an agent would call me the next day at 10 am. If they don't I should contact a particular extension. As expected no one called the next day. I tried the extension and it went to the voicemail box . I left a message requesting for a call back. Again, nothing happened. I tried the next day-no result.

Now, I thought of trying their online chat. This turned out to be worse than the telephone experience. The chat just wouldn't connect. I kept getting the message that all agents are busy and I need to try later. After a couple of hours (I'm not kidding!) of trying, I finally got through only to be told that they apologize for the delay and they they would arrange for a call back as soon as possible. What do you think happened? Nothing.

And here I am with no place to sit despite shelling out $300 for a sofa as I'm unable to assemble it without the missing part. I have no idea when my misery will end!

UPDATE: Many phone calls, twitter & FB posts and consumer complaints later, the item finally arrived!

Furniture, furniture and some more

Much as setting up a house is challenging and hectic, it sure is a very enjoyable and exciting process. Having moved to a new country with nothing except our clothes, we have this task of making our newly rented apartment into our home.

What better place to begin furniture shopping other than Ikea? Now, I'd heard about Ikea, looked at their online catalogue but when I visited their store, boy, was I blown away? The sheer size of the store was something I couldn't get over. It was as if I stepped into furniture heaven. We went on a weekend and there is no need for me to tell you how crowded it was. 

Braving the crowds, we ventured from one section to the other. I was greedily eying ever piece of furniture and secretly wishing I could own some of them. As soon as I'd oogled enough at one object and moved to the next aisle, my heart would swoon once again. The designs, the arrangement and combinations with other pieces to form a complete set were beyond perfect. 

Armed with a pencil and blank shopping list provided at the entrance, we moved strolled through each section, noting the name, model number and price of the items we liked. The list kept growing. We finally managed to zero in on a coffee table, dining table and chairs, a sofa and a night stand. I thought we were done. And then we came to the first floor. An even bigger collection of household stuff. Curtains, cutlery, crockery, bathroom essentials, garden supplies-you name it and they have it. I was very impressed with the low prices too.

However, as we had to take a bus and a train to reach home, we could only buy so much. My kitchen looks so much better with those brown bowls and matching plates that I picked up there. 

I know for sure where I'm going to spend this weekend!

P.S: This is not a sponsored post :)

Hello, Amreeka!

As you can guess from my blog name, I've just recently moved to Sunnyvale, CA. This blog would be a sort of a journal for all my experiences in this new city. As is the case with any new place, I'm sure there are lots of nice places to be explored, cuisines to be tasted and friends to be made. I'm really excited about this new phase of my life and look forward to enjoying this experience thoroughly.

Let me start at the beginning-my flight. unlike the two earlier visits, this time I flew with British Airways instead of Cathay Pacific. And needless to say I regretted it deeply. The hospitality, food and service was way below the high standards of Cathay. And there was an hours delay which was even more annoying. Anyways seeing V after what was 36 days but seemed like 36 years was well worth all the trouble. To my surprise, I was greeted with this-a very sweet welcome indeed!

We then left for our new apartment. I was almost sure the excitement and curiosity of seeing it would kill me before I actually reached there. I'm glad I managed to survive. One look at the house and I knew that I was in love. I'll do a separate post with more details about the house with pictures. For now it's enough to say that my new house is my new favorite place on earth :)


2 days of jet lag followed but that was in no way stopping me from heading out. On Saturday, we decided to go to Target and buy a few household items. (I had already made list of these things when I woke up at 3 am and had nothing else to do.) Before I proceed I must mention that both V and I don't drive. So we depend on the public transport which isn't very great. The buses, unlike in India, run on very limited routes, have a frequency of one bus per hour and the last bus runs only until 7 pm or so. This is going to be a very big challenge for me as I have great plans of going around the city but have no reliable mode of transportation. Having established this important fact, let me move forward. We took the bus to Sunnyvale Caltrain station and were pleasantly surprised to see a Farmers market at Murphy avenue. Now I had never seen a farmer's market in the US. Sure I'd been to many such markets in India but in US it was a new thing for me. Unlike the supermarkets and malls that i was used to seeing in US, this was very impressive. the entire place was buzzing with activity-farmers selling fresh fruits and vegetables, people dressed in colorful, summery clothes, street artists playing the guitar, banjo and singing. it was a very lively scene. Unfortunately, i did nt have my camera to capture this beauty.


On either side of the street were numerous restaurants, cafes and bars-food for every taste, pocket and preference. A little ahead was a row full of street food-again variety at its best. We decided to check out an Italian restaurant-forgot the name just as the food was quite forgettable.


Shopped around for a bit in Target and then my jet lag kicked in. We went back home and that was pretty much the end of Saturday.


Sunday we went to Ikea-ofcourse we took the train and a bus to get there. The place is every bit worth the hype surrounding it. I had already seen the catalogue but was blown away by the designs and furniture arrangements. I noted down all the stuff I wanted and decided we would come back later when we have a proper mode of transportation. The place although very crowded was a heaven especially for anyone who is setting up a new home. Every piece of furniture made me think 'Oh, this would really be nice to have.'

Post the weekend, I haven't gone out much except for some grocery shopping at Bharat Bazar at the corner of the street. I was very happy to find dosa batter and this is what I made for dinner last night-yummy!

This is already a very long post. I'll save the rest for my next blog.