The Adventures of the Little Indian Girl

newlifeinstpaul - this post, IKEA as couples therapy, completely made me think of you!! Ha ha…

The first time I heard of IKEA was when I was in college and roomed with a Swede in Hawai’i. IKEA was thousands of miles away from us. However, she would have the catalog for it and she would dream up of ideas for some imaginary home. Well, for her au-pair kid in Chicago! Her host-mom-friend let her indulge in the excitement. She would with so much pride and excitement bring the catalog home from the mail box! Then I actually visited one in Seattle. I was there on holiday and staying with a close friend. They are an IKEA family, all members of the family (except dad who worked for Boeing) worked at IKEA. They absolutely loved it and hated it! I imagine that’s the norm for any position dealing with grown adult customers.

And IKEA was forgotten until one opened in Kuala Lumpur! Where we became customers! We didn’t buy any big furniture pieces but small accessories – coffee tables, etc. We got some lights from there too. After the fire that ravaged half of our apartment in 2005, we became stronger supporters of IKEA. None of their products were affected by the fire, even the lamp posts (fair enough, we had the non-plastic ones). It also makes me wonder what they paint over the “wood”!!

The true IKEA experience came when I got married. Even before we got married, N began making trips to look for beds (he was sleeping on an air mattress). Our first purchase from IKEA was the queen sized platform bed and mattress. And slowly it grew. I think the first two years of our marriage we lived in IKEA. :P

Our last purchase was a big wardrobe. We no longer assemble it ourselves. We paid for the assembly. And likely will not go to IKEA for a long time to come. Our next piece of furniture will probably be a dining table. The current one will just about make it through the move. I don’t know. It’s also an IKEA table that N had picked up 9 years ago from craig’s list.

But N still gets excited about going to IKEA. Me not so much. Maybe another year or two, I just might get the excitement of assembling and pretending to be magnificent carpenters. But alas, I really shouldn’t insult the good work carpenters or anyone who builds stuff do!

But this article really tickled me and I couldn’t stop laughing, in a good way! It’s something we do tell new couples. Shop at IKEA, you will get to know one another in ways no other endeavor does. (I would never recommend have a kid, not even as a joke!)

It has been 10 days since my arrival! Time has flown so fast it's amazing. Days feel so short with not enough time. I haven't even had time to call up friends during the day/night/weekend!! Friday evening we headed to National Geographic Museum for a open air concert by Balkan Beat Box (http://www.balkanbeatbox.com/)! It was amazing!  The energy in each musician was so contagious that it had people of all ages, races dancing away to the music! 

And lucky for me, the weather has been warm!! At occasion, hot even! 

Yesterday we hit the mall & bought up a whole new wardrobe for preparation of winter! As I possess only summer/spring clothing. It's quite unimaginable how cold it can get with the hot blazing sun above our heads! I believe the day we go buy a fan will be the day it will get cooler! 

N and I take turns to cook at home. I messed up rava upma this morning! I didn't think one could. But N was a good sport and had even a hearty second serving before he headed out the office. He hogged almost all the pasta I made though for lunch! :P It's always nice to see people appreciating one's cooking!

The photos are here... all 456 of them! So will sort through some and share over a few days! Or it will be an overload of colours & gold!

As the days come close, someone sent that to me today. My colleague from another branch. It seems she only caught and understood one word and not the rest, or was just a freudian slip. If she only knew the full lyrics, she wouldn't wonder why I was laughing my head off! But it's the thought that counts, no? Today I was just overjoyed. I was bursting with happiness that I needed to put it down somewhere, get it out of my system and wanted to tell the world. I figured screaming it out of the balcony would just send people scared to death and my parents worried. And so I am here!

Yes, the day is almost coming. OK...1 month and 7 days before we head off to the airport for one last time from Malaysia to Bangalore! Dad's retiring, sis is done with college here, and I am moving on to a new stage in life! And I just can't wait! I washed the dishes in a record time, to get here and pen my thoughts down! Lucky for me mom finished her work here and I didn't have to ask her to get up really fast!

After 18 years of living overseas, we will be moving back to India, to Bangalore! I will be there but 3 months before my next stop, but that would be the longest time spent living in India in the last 18 years! A new experience, a new life! I have too many butterflies in my tummy it's ready to explode!

It must have been the official handover to the person replacing me that did it! I have one more week at work left after this. I AM MOVING!!!!! wooo hoooo! I never felt this much excitement before, when I moved from Hawai'i to Malaysia. I believe the last time I felt this excited was when I headed from Singapore to Honolulu for college! I guess it's also because of the reason for moving.

But now I babble! But the new life I am looking forward to is also that I am getting married!!! As each day passes, as each conversation grows with the boy, N, I feel happier to have found him! After the wedding I will be heading to the US with him! Just please PLEASE don't ask me about the wedding. That doesn't excite me as much as the people I might get to meet at the occasion and the life that comes after! If I had it my way, my wedding would be a potluck at the beach! But weddings are but for families to be happy. Lucky for me, in Indian tradition, the parents take care of most of the planning! I just enjoy the perks of living& growing up in two cultures!

oh I will miss KL, I will miss Malaysia. I might complain, I might mock, but it has become a place that I have enjoyed. I will miss the friends made, the food, the place. But oh my, I am getting MARRIED?! Can you imagine? I surely couldn't. And to be clear, I am not getting married because society says so, or is considered a natural stage in life, but because this guy is just amazing! Lets hope it continues that way!!

I am just happy!!