Two Nuns Walk onto a Plane...

Traveled home to NC for the Christmas holiday over the weekend. Took a new route through Frankfurt, which was a good travel experience. I have visited Germany a few times in the past, and really enjoyed it, including hearing the fascinating language pronunciations (how long a single word can be!), of course the history, the countryside views of beautiful "chateaus", and the cars. The pretzels are cooked a little bit darker, and every sentence contains a word that sounds like "fluffenhagen". It is such a neat place at Christmas, with all of the nutcrackers and different wooden ornaments on display. Too bad I was only inside the airport this time and unable to get outside for a few hours. I flew on 3 planes on this trip, and 2 were Lufthansa, with full German crews. It was so funny to me, as during one delay, I heard 8 or 10 sentences in German, (that I can't understand with the exception of willkomen, danke and achtung) and thought "I can't wait to hear the translation of these 8 sentences!" Then, I simply heard, "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you that flight 407 will be delayed." End of message. I tried to study all of the German's faces to see if anyone was concerned over the mention of Achtung! Haha

When you travel internationally, you go through full security checks at each airport, and that is where I learned the most today. I personally can understand the stress that comes with missing a connection when you NEED to get somewhere, and how it could produce a reaction. Well, today, with Christmas already being a high volume travel period, I am sure there were a lot of people that missed flights due to late connections. It is times like this when you see how different people process and react to stressful situations. So....I was in line with a good number of people who were about to miss flights (and probably did, as they would say to me, and other people in line, things like, "Take-off time was 10 minutes ago"), and yet they were just plodding forward as fast as the lines would allow, and were still able to laugh with their travel companions. The most stress I witnessed overall were heavy sighs. You have to admire this calm type of reaction to stress. Then.....there was the woman and her family. We all heard her coming, with the "event" starting shortly before she reached the actual security line. The security line is the LAST PLACE you want to lose your temper, and as we watched her yell at the guy on the phone to personally escort her through the line, we wondered for a second, "Are these German security guards going to escort her to her plane and just bypass the entire process?" The guy she initially yelled at was indeed in a work conversation, and could not give her full attention, and yet was able to point to the front of the line. She was able to go to the front, which of course we were all relieved. We all wanted this woman to make her plane. And then....we hear more loud voices. Maybe things are not proceeding as fast as needed? Of course other bags WERE in the x-ray machine when she arrived, which were being checked. Then....we see her touch one of the workers' faces (in a desperate plea, not necessarily anger). It almost looked like a "please help me" plea. It was, at this moment of actual physical contact, that I, and everyone of us watching this unfold, knew that this was not going to end well. Other senior security officers emerged out of nowhere, and there was a huddle. There were tears, and I truthfully felt bad for her and all involved, yet, in security, these guys are trained to not allow people to move through these lines willy-nilly, especially if you start yelling at them, as it could be a diversion, mental issue, and a threat to everyone else (not to mention inequitable). Well, I hope she was allowed to board another plane and not "taken to the basement" for questioning!

Finally, on my last flight home, I was sitting in my aisle seat (a smaller plane with 2 seats on each side). The plane is almost full, and I look up and see 2 nuns coming my way. I think to myself "Awesome", as seeing people like this in public is so different from a regular day. These nuns seem to be giggling and I secretly hope they sit near me so I can hear "what nuns talk about". Well, they stop and one sits across the aisle, and the other tells me I am sitting in her seat, 19D. I think "I have taken a nun's seat! Dear Lord, how did this happen!" Well, I have only looked at my ticket about 15 times today, and I personally KNOW I am in the right seat, however, there is NO WAY I am going to argue with a nun. If she tells me to jump onto the wing, I would certainly have at least considered it. I say, "Oh, no problem, let me move over!". At that time, the other nun immediately sees what is going on and tells her "(Oh, fellow nun) You are supposed to be on this side with me!" She looks at her ticket and realized she is on the wrong side. She begins to laugh and apologize over and over, and I am of course fine, but just disappointed that she is not my neighbor. I already had some things planned to ask her about. Of course, I was, on the flip side, a bit relieved, as I had taken that awesome blanket off the Lufthansa plane, and the books in my purse included True Crime novels, a choice of "Body Count", or "Evil Beside Her". While true crime novels are interesting to me, I am not sure she would have approved of these books. While I am not Catholic, I feel as if I may have launched into a quick confession session had she stayed.

So, I am back in NC for the holidays, and am wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Happy Holidays to everyone.

Karnataka "Wild" Life

When you visit a new country, you obviously see new and different types of animals. In examining my photos so far....these “chickens” (very unique) have been my most interesting wildlife encounter while in India. I have been trying to determine what kind of chickens they are, tied to the location in the state of Karnataka where I took these photos, and so far have only come up with comments from others who have photographed them in the same location.

The comments include:
“unique birds”
“saw them for the first time in India”
“exotic chickens”

I can say that I agree with all of the above!

Spicy Hot, and also....On Fire

There is a restaurant in Bangalore that I “absolutely” love to visit: Absolute Barbecue. I went tonight, on a Tuesday, and it was fully packed by 7PM, with people waiting. It is on the 3rd floor of a building with a small-ish elevator that takes you to the entrance, and most people want to take the elevator rather than the stairs. Being in crowded Bangalore, you can be the first person to reach an elevator and still somehow “miss getting on” if you hang back from the crowd. There are just so many people.

They have a musician, apparently almost every night of the week, and tonight it was “Henry”. If I had kept my back to him the entire time, after he announced his name, and heard his sound, I would never have thought “that is an Indian singer”. He sang Eagles songs like he was a member of the original band.

What it is so interesting and amazing to me about “AB” is that there is an actual charcoal grill built into every single table, where your food is placed and grilled. I could be wrong, but I do not think this was an electric set-up. The foyer/hallway which leads in is filled with neat colorful “Weber grills”, and grilling utensils. A whole Barbecuing motif. After your meal, when you leave, your clothes smell like you have been grilling in the backyard on a windy day; you smell like a charcoal briquette.

They bring so much delicious food, you simply cannot imagine: Veg or non-veg, whatever you like. From pineapple, to chicken, to big chunks of cheese, to mushroom caps. The wait staff are truly interested if you are enjoying the food, and want to bring you items you like. The place is semi-big, but the wait staff are really on top of things and offer more, more, more food……. You can get the spiciest of food here, which is very tasty after being grilled.

The 2 things that really keep your attention at this establishment, outside of the delicious food, and wondering about the carbon monoxide situation, are: The waiters are racing around with sharply pointed metal skewers. They are moving fast, tossing them around, and you get used to this situation quickly. A dinner could suddenly turn into a drama at a moment’s notice. And, the back kitchen, where chefs are doing the pre-grilling and other cooking, as seen through a glass, always appears to be completely “on fire”. Quite a mesmerizing view from your “grill table”. I took some pictures (all taken inside), which are not good, as there was so much movement in this busy restaurant, but it does illustrate the views from within this fun (absolutely exciting) restaurant.