Getting Educated from a Finnish Magazine (warning to men: Don't bother to read this)

My sweet mother sent me a Finnish magazine called Kauneus ja Terveys (Beauty and Health) just this week. While I was browsing through the magazine I came upon an article that talked about "The Moon Cup" or "The Keeper". I thought: "What the heck is a moon cup??" Just last week I was complaining to Rod that I have to invent something that would reduce my periods to only one day. I'm looking forward to menopause because at least then I wouldn't have to deal with my periods BUT also I would be frequently warm. I'm sick of being cold all the time. I look forward to a day when I can fan myself.

Back to the article.

It introduced me to a plunger looking thing that you insert into your uterus where you usually stick your tampons in.

NO WAY!

I kept reading.

It catches the blood into the cup without ANY LEAKAGE...EVER!!! You simply remove the cup, wash it and insert it again.

WHAT THE...!!!!

And here it is, if you are interested. I have no idea why I have been living in the dark all these 45 years, 11 months and 9 days.





Next time when you see me, I might be smuggling a plunger between my legs. I dare you to ask me if I think it is the greatest invention of all times. I still have to invent something that can reduce the periods to measly one day.

The Unthinkable is Doable

Before we left on our 10 day trip to France and India, we contemplated on making the trip with only carry-on bags. Would we have enough clothes/shoes to travel so far? Could it be done? Would it be possible or sheer madness? We decided to try to see if we liked traveling "light". We knew that we could get our laundry done in India very quickly once we got there. So we packed only 5 outfits and 2 pairs of shoes for each person. I didn't pack any hair stuff for me because I knew that every hotel would have a hair dryer (just a warning, the hotels had hair dryers but you had to hold your finger on the on/off button for it to stay on...huge pain!!), and most likely India would be so humid that doing my hair would be a huge waste of time anyway, so I packed a rubberband to put my, now somewhat long, hair in a pony tail. I only packed my few make-up items that I could put in my purse.

And off we went.

We traveled quickly because we didn't have to wait for bags...anywhere. We had our laundry washed in New Delhi when we got there. We were then set for the rest of the trip.

We packed an extra bag in our suitcase just in case we bought so much stuff that we had to check one of the carry-on bags. Which we did. On the way home. And it didn't get lost in Paris, as so many people told us that your bags get lost in Paris. Not ours. It was the last bag off the plane in Salt Lake.

So, for you, who travel with bags and bags of stuff, like we used to do, we realized that it is so unnecessary. You CAN travel light and it makes packing so much easier and faster.

Freshman Picture

Here is our handsome Alex. We just love this boy so much!

It's Monday and Time for Headline News!

It is always funny to see some of the signs around the cities in India. I knew to expect something funny because of Rod's previous visits. And the country didn't disappoint.

Here are a few choice bits.


STD & FAX. How convenient. You can get a Sexually Transmitted Disease at the same time you are faxing something. What service! One of the similar signs we saw was 1-2-3-STD. Super. I asked our host what STD stands for and he told that it was the local phone company. How disappointing. We had hope for something more exciting.


Blue Dart! Now we are talking. If you don't know what Blue Dart is (as we had to explain it to our host, who laughed his head off), let me explain. On a day when you are very "gassy", you take a match, drop your pants and while bending over, you light the match and you fart into the flame. And that's how blue dart is born. Disclaimer: Don't try this at home, boys!
Blue Dart in India is a shipping company, like DHL or FedEx. How boring!


These ads were everywhere in Erode, which happens to be the city where "Porna" is made. Porna is a brand for Rice Bran Oil. A new up and coming "healthy" oil from Erode, Tamilnadu. The ads we saw had happy looking people holding a pouch of "Porna". I think the marketing research went horribly wrong when they came up with this name.

When we were driving to Taj Mahal, I saw a sign by the side of the road that made me laugh. It simply stated "Jolly-Fat-Go". I have no idea what the meaning was for it, but it struck my funny bone. Rod and Alex were sleeping at the time so I had to explain it to them later, and it didn't seem so funny anymore. But at the time...quite funny.

Day 10: Coimbatore to Salt Lake City

This morning we packed our bags and Ramesh, Sudahar and Baskar came to pick us up from the hotel. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Coimbatore because we wanted to do some last minute shopping before our plane took off.

A very successful shopping day indeed.

Our plane from Coimbatore left on time to Mumbai, where we had a stopover. When we were landing in Mumbai, I looked out the window and saw a sea of blue squares. I was thinking that they were all swimming pools. The closer we got, they turned out to be blue tarps that were covering the roofs of the shanty towns. They were EVERYWHERE.

We arrived in New Delhi on time and then switched planes to fly to Paris and then home to Salt Lake City.

We had such a wonderful trip to both countries. It was a busy 10 days but we saw and experienced so much. We came back home with more appreciation for our lives and everything we have. We made new friendships and hopefully will be able to return soon. Many people say that India is not one of those places where they would like to visit because of the extreme poverty. Now that I have visited, I must say that it is one of the most wonderful "vacations" I have taken. The people are amazing, and the history is unbelievable. There is nothing I can do to change the poverty because the Indian government is so corrupt and the infrastructure has broken down years ago. The people are trying to survive the best they can and every day life for a common man and woman is a struggle....a life and death. But I, personally, fell in love with the beauty of it all.

Day 9: Erode Farm Visits

Today we visited more farms in the middle of nowhere. First, though, we went to meet the rest of Mr. Manny's family at his home.


Mr. Manny, his pregnant daughter Raji and Mr. Manny's wife Ghomati. According to Indian tradition, when a daughter becomes pregnant, she and her husband move in with her parents months before the baby is born and 6 months after baby's birth.


Rod, me and Raji at the balcony overlooking Erode.

Then we drove a few hours to the Moringa farms.


This little girl, who is a 6th grader, walked with us to look at the Moringa trees at the farm. I took her picture and then showed the picture to her. She started giggling a giggle that was so joyful, and then ran to get her little brother. Again, I took their pictures and showed them to them. They both giggled and were so happy to see their own pictures. I'm not sure they have seen a camera before. Beautiful, beautiful children.


Rod, Alex and I at the Kadavur valley. The mountains surrounded the entire valley and there was only one road in and out.

This old man was biking past us and stopped to look at what we were doing. I loved his old bike with a striking green saddle.

One of the villagers who was curious to know what we were doing in their village. I loved this old man because you can see his original skin color on his forehead where he has applied the "bindi" all of his life. His thick, gray hair is amazing.

The drive was long and Rod and Mr. Manny fell into a restful slumber.

That night we had dinner at the Chimney restaurant in Erode. Here Mr. Manny is smiling for the first time in the pictures. Indians don't smile in pictures.

From left: Baskar, Mr. Manny, Rod, me, Alex, Ramesh, Vinod (Ramesh's cousin) and Anand (Ramesh's brother in-law and Raji's husband)

It is still a mystery to me what you are supposed to do in the bathroom. Almost none of them had toilet paper. I was totally baffled, but carried my own toilet paper with me.

Tomorrow: Back to Coimbatore and catching a flight to New Delhi through Mumbai, then to Paris and Salt Lake City.

Day 8: From Chennai to Coimbatore and Erode

First of all, happy birthday to my father who would be 90 years old today. To wish him happy birthday, I will say: Hip hei!


Our first farm visit at Mr. Naachamutu's farm. Baskar, Ramesh and Mr. Manny talking with Rod.


Rod helping Alex to open a Moringa vegetable pod.


We had a full day today here in Coimbatore. We flew in from Chennai this morning and Mr. Manny and his crew picked us up at the airport. Mr. Manny is a Zija vendor who provides them with Moringa. We drove to the hotel Poppys and then straight to 2 farms that were 2.5 hours away from Tirupur. The first farms was about 8-10 hectars and mainly grew Moringa and coconuts. The second farm grew Moringa and mangos. After visiting the farms, it was sunset and we had to get back to Tirupur. We drove to another hotel named Velan where we had a great prawns, chicken and lamb dinner. Then back to our hotel at 11pm where we went skinny dipping in our private pool.


Alex at the second Moringa farm.


A woman carrying sticks on her head.


Time for refreshments. Our host hopped on his motorcycle and went to get fresh coconuts for us to drink and eat. Then gave them to his worker, who prepared them for us. So delicious and the flesh was soft inside.


The worker's little son who was so shy. He wouldn't look at me at all. Finally, Rod offered him a piece of gum and he might have looked at Rod then.


Alex swimming in our private pool at the hotel.


Tomorrow, more farms visits and we meet Mr. Manny's rest of the family.

Day 7: Mamallapuram-Mahabalipuram

Today our driver took us to Mamallapuram which was an hour away from Chennai. Mamallapuram is right by the beach and its history dates all the way back to 600 AD. We picked up our tour guide and then started touring the temples/monuments.

Alex is holding this huge rock all by himself. Even 6 elephants couldn't pull this rock down. It has something to do with gravity.

Another scorcher of a day. 90+ and 90% humidity.

A monument that dates back to 600 AD. This whole place is carved out of one single rock, from top to bottom. This depicts the 3 gods: Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Five Ratas monument dates back to 630 AD and it took 38 years to "build" or chisel out, and there were over 1000 people working on these ratas=chariots.

Alex at the Shore Temple. This was built from bottom up during 700-725 AD.

Then it was time for late lunch. We drove to the Fisherman's Cove at the Taj Hotel. Rod ordered "Dosa".

Alex and I fell in love with Kulfi, which is a typical Chennai dessert made of milk, pistachio and almond paste and has cardamon in it. Then it is frozen and eaten like ice cream. This was served to us with Hallawah. So super yummy! Dare I say that it tastes better than regular ice cream?

My two handsome men at the beach.

Handsome Alex at the beach. I love this boy!

Tomorrow we travel to Coimbatore and Erode to check out the Zija farms.

Day 6: From New Delhi to Chennai

We arrived from New Delhi to Chennai this afternoon after a delay in New Delhi. Our driver was waiting at the airport to take us to the hotel.

A few things we love about Chennai already:

-Massage chair in our room. Alex immediately sat in it and didn't want to move.
-Silk, silk and more silk. I bought 18 meters of different color raw silk. $4/yard. Lydia is going to be busy with the silk soon.
-True Indian continuos dinner with a business partner and friend. Deepak met us for dinner and we spent 2 lovely hours with him eating the most exciting foods of Southern India. Can't tell you what everything was. The favorite was the Indian ice-cream dessert with pistachios and cardamom.

Tomorrow we tour Mahabalipuram and its temples and beaches.


The king and his throne.


Alex is ready to eat with his hands. He is not sure what he is eating but he knows he loves every bit of it.



Deepak and Alex at the end of the dinner.

Day 5: Agra-Taj Mahal

Let me just start staying:"HOLY MOTHER, IT'S HOT OUT HERE!!!"

I'm not sure how to describe our day in Agra. The drive took about 4 hours to get there, and along the way, it was just the saddest scenes after scenes. We were able to view the poorest of the poor to just survive...every moment of their lives. 6 year old boys with their little brother or sister in their arms knocking on our car window, begging. How do you even start understanding this? Or the madness and utter chaos of the traffic? The gratefulness that I feel towards EVERYTHING I have in my life. Even as simple as turning on/off the lights when I witnessed whole sections of the city dark after sunset because there was no electricity, or maybe a single fluorescent light bulb or a dim oil lamp hanging here and there. How about grateful for my comfortable bed when people were sleeping in the median of the major highway or on a cot under a tree by the side of the street. How about those mud houses that were part of the landscape in the countryside. How do you wrap your mind around everything? I don't have an answer. I just feel sad, yet so grateful for my life that I will never complain about anything ever again. The scenes and sounds are too painful, although the people seemed happy and smiling. Maybe they don't have an understanding what we have, and can't wrap their minds around that.



Alex at the Taj Mahal, pinching the top of the Taj.


The Larsen's at the Taj Mahal. An incredible place that words can't describe. You have to come and experience it yourself.

Namaste. Tomorrow, Chennai.