Just like back in the good ol’ US of A

Since the arrival of my roommates (1 week ago) I think I have mentioned some the changes to my lifestyle, with some of the most amusing things revolving around food. I think I have already mentioned their breakfast of choice, a large piece of chocolate on two slices of white bread with a side of mango. But they are also forever on a quest for meat. I had no idea how much the French love their meat. I should have guessed since one of my roommates’ father is a beef farmer, but I am still a little surprised. They have a significant stockpile of cans of pate, strange French hot dogs, and various types of canned fish. They said every Sunday they try to find restaurants that serve meat b/c it is so hard to find. They have been here since February, so I guess they have earned a little slack. For those of you who are wondering what im talking about, I can give a little background. India on a whole is largely vegetarian. There are pockets where meat is eaten more often, and Im sure in cities it can be found more readily, but the large majority of people in this region are vegetarian, so all our food is vegetarian. I can’t complain really, since I don’t eat a lot of meat anyway, I’d prefer to have no meat than a lot of meat, or mystery meat. This feeling was confirmed when I tried a little of my roommates ‘country’ pate. Which come to find out was not liver, but the cheap ‘country’ version, consisting of hot dog like ingredients. It looked so much like cat food I had to re-read the label to double check.

To top it all off, they introduced me to an Indian McDonald’s yesterday. It was very strange. I don’t think it would have been my first, or even 10^th choice, in eating establishments, but I didn’t feel like I had much bargaining power. Being the new girl, I didn’t want to shoot down their suggestion especially since I didn’t have any of my own. I also was hitting a bit of a rough patch, on account of not eating enough for breakfast I think, and didn’t have the strength to walk around, let alone discuss the situation. Any place with food, drink and A/C sounded like heaven at that point. So I ate my McVeggie burger with fries and Diet coke in the food court of the mall and didn’t complain. I even topped it off with a mango sorbet from the fro-yo stand next door! (When in Rome!) My roommates seemed to really enjoy their chicken sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies from the cookie stand, so who am I to stand in their way. Maybe next week I can try out the Subway stand or the Belgian waffle stand!

After we ate we went next door to the movies and saw the latest Bollywood film. Much to my surprise and enjoyment, it turned out to be a romantic comedy (one of my favorite genres of film). So even though I couldn’t understand the Hindi dialog, I could understand the international language of romantic comedy. And I have to say it didn’t disappoint. There were a couple slow dialog scenes, but the semi-regular singing and dancing scenes, as well as the final ‘dance contest’ scene really kept my attention. For those of you not familiar with bollywood films, no this wasn’t a musical, it was just a normal, over the top movie. But seeing it in the theater is really what made the experience. It is so loud that even if I wanted to nod off during the boring scenes, I couldn’t, and people in the audience cheer, whistle, and yell the whole time. (When they aren’t talking on their cell phones of course.) They really love their movie stars! For those readers out there that enjoy a romantic comedy as much as I do (you know who you are) don’t worry, my roommate already has a bootleg copy I will be downloading and bringing back.