Church was the same…and yet different...the format was the same, the songs were the same, prayers were the same, but the faces were different. There were even a couple "foreigners" there, not including S. It was disappointing. I must have been hoping for a mini reunion ...argh, unmet expectations. After the service I mentioned to S that none of the crowd that I hung out with (13 years ago) was still going to this church…my “gang”. OK, I take that back…there are still three around...and one of them is me. There used to be a rather large young adult/career group…about 20 - 30 of us and what fun we used to have together. The "gang" probably consisted of 5-6 of us of the whole. Most of them are gone now, some in Australia, some in the UK, couple in the US and I know some are still here…but don’t go to this church anymore.
When we came here last, three of "the gang" were still coming here, so I at least got to see them on Sundays. This time around, only one…the other two have disappeared and I have no idea how to get in touch with them. Sad - to come all this way and not be able to hang. But it was good to see the other one…in the last three years she’s gotten married and is expecting a little one in May. It’s amazing how much you can miss when you’re gone for even a short while…but I guess a lot can happen in 3 years. We not only had J, and he's had surgery, and it's been over a year since his surgery and he's almost two.
One of the couples celebrated their 1 year anniversary, so they treated the church to lunch after the service. It was good, but extremely greasy (to be expected of catered food)…I and J enjoyed the rice and chicken and curries…fish was too spicy for them, but J had a few bits.
S and I got a chance to go out on a date, it being Valentine’s and all. We walked to a little joint and had pani puri and shakes...and took some dinner back. S thinks we should introduce pani puri to the West, but it probably wouldn’t taste the same. We might be able to find them in some restaurants...but it'll be quite the search and i don't think that's part of our budget. Besides, we're still working out the other Indian eatery idea.
Dinner consisted of: Singapore noodles (ehh....way better in Singapore =D)
Siddharth Special noodles (same as above, but with more grease, spices and cheese).
Aloo palak (potato and spinach curry) - very bland
Roasted chicken curry (from a curry stand) - pretty good
Badam milk (almond flavored milk) - eh...
We'll be visiting the curry stand again. The noodles place - their shakes and pani puris were decent. Will have to introduce S to the usual way we eat pani puris - one at a time, standing up. Probably get the full quota that way.
Tomorrow...exhibition
