Gujarati Dinner for 45

First off I have to say how childishly delighted I have been to see animals of all kinds in the middle of the city. Camels pulling fruit stands, families of monkeys traveling down the road, goats and cows. The monkeys were especially surprising because they are very big, grey with black faces. They don't seem at all interested in me, but I keep a safe distance nonetheless. My host family's house has a roof top garden in pots and a bathtub with small trees in it. In the late afternoon when I read there I find myself watching falcons, hawks and ravens circling overhead.

Last night my family had 45 people over to the house for dinner. Over the past week I have pretty much caught up to the Gujarati I knew by the end of last summer, but this doesn't mean that I am in any position to make small talk in groups. I decided to take the party as my starting point. I was perfectly useless and spent hours smiling and speaking in english with a few people. Everyone was very nice, and some older men and women teased me (which it seems to me is a very good thing), but in the end I could only promise the crowd that I would speak much better the next time we should meet. The food, by the way, was unbelievable as usual. The highlight was the ice cold mango juice, which is almost like pudding.

This morning my classmates and I had a cooking class at our teacher's house. It was wonderful. As a cook myself, I was delighted by the unfamiliar cooking instruments, methods and spices. I will have to write down everything I can recall when I reach home. By Monday I will be sure to finally get some pictures up!