These past few days have been really fun. I didn't go to Sealdah on Sunday because I was kind of sick (still kind of am, but not to the same extent) and I felt it was better to rest.

I took the girls to the Iway for computer class and at craft class I did a GK (general knowledge) on geography. We went over the continents and oceans, and I printed out pictures of landmarks from every continent (except Antarctica). The kids liked the photos, but didn't really care about the rest...

On Monday Lauren and I went into town to buy a bunch of things. We got some movies to watch with the kids (the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap dubbed in Hindi, Hook dubbed in Hindi and Home Alone in English) and a few cheesy Bollywood movies for ourselves (we don't want to upset any parents with questionable content). We got fancy salwars to wear to Piya's brother's wedding party. We had been to that same shop twice before for Lauren to get salwars, and we had always haggled down the price. This time we couldn't talk them below Rs 1000 apiece, and we were really angry about it. But when we got home, Bobby said that was a reasonable price. We felt bad because we had argued with the guys for so long. Haha, oh well... I'm sure we'll be back again. Lauren likes going there, but I prefer to buy the salwars that aren't yet put together so I can get them custom tailored. We also bought a few random food items.

When we got back to the flat, Prativa, Manisha and Arati came over to do mhendi (what Americans call henna. Here henna is the same stuff - tumeric - but henna means hair dye and mhendi is the design on hands) on our hands for the wedding party. They did some and we also began watching The Parent Trap, which they really liked. They all speak Bengali and Hindi, but most of them, with the exception of Prativa, can only read and write Bengali. Prativa only reads and writes Hindi. Actually, she can read and write Bengali and English too, but not very well... Anyway, the movie was a hit. They're coming back over on Sunday to finish watching.

On Tuesday we went with Bobby to buy a wedding gift. We settled on a nice blue and yellow shawl. We then bought bangles, earrings, necklaces, and bindis (the little jewel or dot worn on the forehead) to wear to the party. Then we went to Prativa's so her sister could finish doing the mhendi on our hands. When it first dries, it is very orange. It looked like they had drawn on me with orange sharpie. But over time it turns browner and darker. Because of this, my two hands were different colors since one was done the day before the other.

The actual wedding party was really neat. We were there before most people even arrived. We had to leave a little after nine to get Prativa and Arati home, but it was still really fun. Piya was dressed in a really nice sari, wrapped in a Hindustani way which looked really kool. Everyone around here wraps them a Bengali way. But Piya's family is Hindustani, so hers was wrapped differently. She looks older than me when she gets all dressed up, so I called her Piya Auntie. Anyway, we took bicycle rickshaws to the part of Khardah where her brother lives. Its quite far away. When we got there, not very many people were there yet. The bride was all dressed up in a really elaborate sari and wearing pounds of makeup and jewellery. She was sitting on her bed, which was all decorated with flowers, to recieve guests. People come in to give gifts and to wish her well. She was absolutely gorgeous, but she looked exhausted (understandable after many days of wedding festivities) and, frankly, she looked like she was going to cry. It was an arranged marriage (something like 90% of marriages in India are arranged). So though she had met her new husband before, it wasn't as if she knew him very well. I would have been terrified. She is only 18 and he is 31.

I had written alot more for this post, but then internet explorer messed up and I lost it. I'll continue the description of the party later.

~m