I've got a bone to pick

There's an old saying: The customer is always right. In south Asia that's not necessarily the case, but every warm-blooded American expects that kind of service and mentality in the good 'ol U.S. of A.

Where in the world is....Meliha?

As I've mentioned in my last couple of blog posts, we just returned from a trip to south Asia. Before I get into too much about our trip, let me back up a little bit (and also entertain you with a short anecdote).

When I was younger, I used to play a game called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. (It later became a popular game show for kids of the same name.) The concept for the game focused on geographic questions as the player tracked clues about a fictional villainous character named Carmen Sandiego. Thankfully, I'm neither a villain nor do I need to be tracked around the world, but after all the blogging I've done about south Asia, some of you (especially those who don't know me personally or well) might be left wondering WHERE in the world south Asia is Meliha??

Hob nobbing with a celebrity

A relative was recently on a cricket-related game show. The show is called Jeetain Wasim Akram Say, and it airs on HumTV.

The episodes are linked below. They introduce her in Part 3 at around 6:35, it continues into Episode 1 Parts 4 and 5, and it completes in Episode 2 Part 1. (Most of it is in Urdu, but it's kind of fun to watch even if you don't completely understand what's going on.) It was great to see her (and some other family members too!) on TV.

Desi weddings have great music!

In desi weddings, there's typically dancing at home during dance parties with family, but there's really no dancing during the formal dinner receptions.

We just returned from a trip to south Asia where we attended a wedding. This was my 3rd wedding in south Asia (counting my own) and each one has been completely unique. Regretfully, this wedding wasn't as much focused on dancing as the other 2 seemed to be.

Desi weddings are always a source of great dance music and this one was no exception. As I mentioned in my Baila! Baila! blog post, I'm talking about dance songs with full-on choreographed moves. (Incidentally, videos of these songs are also good for seeing some amazing clothes.)

Welcome! and some changes to this blog...

For those who are first-time visitors to this blog, WELCOME! I hope you like what you read (and if so, don't forget to follow!). For those who are return visitors, you may have noticed I did some spring cleaning and redesigning.

A few changes/important things to note:

• Long(er) blog posts now have a brief intro (first paragraph or more) followed by a Continue reading » link to continue reading the rest of the blog post. (Don't miss the link!)
• There's now a map at the bottom of the blog that displays SOME of the locations where I've blogged from. (Sadly, this Blogger feature doesn't work perfectly, so below it I've also listed some more blog posts that don't currently display on the map.)

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I really appreciate the Reactions and Comments some of you leave. If you have any general feedback or feedback on specific blog posts, feel free to drop me a line OR leave a Reaction or Comment. Thanks again for reading!

Inviting for weddings is a full-time job in south Asia

In south Asia where my in-laws live, people are definitely better at staying in contact via phone than Americans seem to be.  My saas (mother in law) spends time talking on the phone with one friend or another or some distant relative every day.  In addition to talking with people on a regular basis, south Asians also take great care and personalization when inviting for weddings.

In both America and south Asia, people spend time, effort, and money picking out and ordering wedding invitations. But after the invitations are printed is when Americans and south Asians start to differ. While Americans mail their invitations, south Asians instead opt to hand deliver ALL wedding invitations.

3 most important "phrases" in Urdu

As you can probably tell from the timestamp on this blog post, I'm still currently suffering from jet lag (ugh, I RARELY get up before 6am!). However, since sleep seems unrealistic at this point, I thought I might as well make myself useful and publish one of the blog posts that I wrote while travelling.

As I mentioned before in my So...what do I speak and where have I been...? blog post, I speak Urdu. I took a few classes several years ago, but the majority of the Urdu I've retained comes from using it on my trips to south Asia.

I'm baaaccckkk!

As I mentioned several months ago (see blog post: What to wear...what to wear...?), we had plans to attend a desi wedding. What I failed to mention at that time is that the desi wedding was being held in south Asia.

Yesterday we returned from our (awesome!) trip to south Asia. We travelled to multiple cities and attended multiple wedding functions. Stay tuned...because as soon as I shake this jet lag, I've got lots to say! ;)