I don't mean to brag, but I had quite possibly the most perfect, ordinary day. Sure, it helps that it's Friday, but it's also much more than that.
I wake up early and head to Hindi class. Afterwards, I walk about 5 minutes to the gym -- which, in India, is the rarest of rare delights. Of all the things I miss from NY, walking from place to place is surprisingly up there on my list.
The gym is nice and empty, as folks are heading into the office. I snag an elliptical with a TV and plug in my headphones (such an upgrade from our last gym, where I was just thrilled an elliptical would be working!) Fresh from Hindi class, I tune into the government Hindi news channel, but find an inverse correlation to how hard I'd concentrate on the Hindi vs. my speed on the elliptical.
I decide to get more realistic. Eureka! I stumble upon quite possibly the best channel to learn Hindi and work out: a channel of karaoke Bollywood music!! I turn it up and soak in the Bollywood dance moves, while mouthing the Hindi I'm reading down below. The verb "karna" (to do) is amazingly flexible... you can stick any word in front of it and turn that word into a verb. In one song, there are about 5 different uses for [x] "karna", like "party karta hai" and "world travel karta hai". It's great. You, too, can speak Hindi!
Afterwards, I head back to the Hindi class/school and study a bit on my own. Then it's off to my first Indian cooking class! I head to Nita Mehta's -- sort-of the Indian Rachael Ray. She has books galore, and the class is essentially a classroom with a giant stovetop and kitchen, with cameras hovering over the pots, projecting to televisions around the room. For a class of only eight of us, it feels like quite a production. We learn all sorts of ways to cook paneer, essentially the Indian version of tofu -- in that it's high in protein, has absolutely no taste, but goes well with everything.
I look around the room, and my fellow students are either very young women (no doubt taking cooking classes to become more marriage marketable), or old matrons (one complaints that her husband doesn't like her cooking at all). It's easy to say that the best part of the class comes at the end, when we get to eat all the paneer dishes she's been demonstrating. I feel like I'm part of the studio live audience, and almost clap when the food starts getting passed around.
It's now 3pm, and time to start work. I put in a few good hours working on a deliverable due to our funder next week; then get on the phone for a conference call. It's an amazing mix of being super engaged and interested in my work, but not having it take over my life (quite possibly the first time this has happened!) Working part-time certainly has its benefits!
As I close this, I'm about to finish watching a Bollywood DVD I started yesterday and have dinner with Tyler, before we head over to a Holiday "White" party at a bar/club nearby. If this isn't amazing work/life balance, I'm not sure what is. I'll have to remember to re-read this at some point when we've moved back to NYC, and remember that indeed, it is possible.
I wake up early and head to Hindi class. Afterwards, I walk about 5 minutes to the gym -- which, in India, is the rarest of rare delights. Of all the things I miss from NY, walking from place to place is surprisingly up there on my list.
The gym is nice and empty, as folks are heading into the office. I snag an elliptical with a TV and plug in my headphones (such an upgrade from our last gym, where I was just thrilled an elliptical would be working!) Fresh from Hindi class, I tune into the government Hindi news channel, but find an inverse correlation to how hard I'd concentrate on the Hindi vs. my speed on the elliptical.
I decide to get more realistic. Eureka! I stumble upon quite possibly the best channel to learn Hindi and work out: a channel of karaoke Bollywood music!! I turn it up and soak in the Bollywood dance moves, while mouthing the Hindi I'm reading down below. The verb "karna" (to do) is amazingly flexible... you can stick any word in front of it and turn that word into a verb. In one song, there are about 5 different uses for [x] "karna", like "party karta hai" and "world travel karta hai". It's great. You, too, can speak Hindi!
Afterwards, I head back to the Hindi class/school and study a bit on my own. Then it's off to my first Indian cooking class! I head to Nita Mehta's -- sort-of the Indian Rachael Ray. She has books galore, and the class is essentially a classroom with a giant stovetop and kitchen, with cameras hovering over the pots, projecting to televisions around the room. For a class of only eight of us, it feels like quite a production. We learn all sorts of ways to cook paneer, essentially the Indian version of tofu -- in that it's high in protein, has absolutely no taste, but goes well with everything.
I look around the room, and my fellow students are either very young women (no doubt taking cooking classes to become more marriage marketable), or old matrons (one complaints that her husband doesn't like her cooking at all). It's easy to say that the best part of the class comes at the end, when we get to eat all the paneer dishes she's been demonstrating. I feel like I'm part of the studio live audience, and almost clap when the food starts getting passed around.
It's now 3pm, and time to start work. I put in a few good hours working on a deliverable due to our funder next week; then get on the phone for a conference call. It's an amazing mix of being super engaged and interested in my work, but not having it take over my life (quite possibly the first time this has happened!) Working part-time certainly has its benefits!
As I close this, I'm about to finish watching a Bollywood DVD I started yesterday and have dinner with Tyler, before we head over to a Holiday "White" party at a bar/club nearby. If this isn't amazing work/life balance, I'm not sure what is. I'll have to remember to re-read this at some point when we've moved back to NYC, and remember that indeed, it is possible.
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